With a push by the Democratic party to return federal estate taxes to their historic norms, taxpayers need to act now before Congress passes legislation that could adversely impact their estates. Currently, the federal estate and gift tax exemption is set at $11.58 million per taxpayer. Assets included in a decedent’s estate that exceed the decedent’s remaining exemption available at death are taxed at a…
Tips for Divvying Up Personal Property
We collect stuff throughout our lives. This “stuff” is known as our personal property. Some items are valuable, like jewelry, baseball cards, and works of art. Other items are sentimental, like grandma’s tea set, old christmas ornaments, and photographs. Regardless of the value, it is important that these items be distributed the way you want when you die. Consider the following to ensure that your…
Preparing Your Beneficiaries to Receive Their Inheritance
When you hire an estate planning attorney, you are often looking for help with preparing your accounts and property to ultimately pass smoothly and safely to your loved ones. This is a key component of estate planning. An experienced estate planning attorney will put much thought and effort into ensuring that an appropriate estate plan is created using a variety of legal documents including wills,…
Christmas in July: Gifting During Uncertain Times
Changes in the federal transfer tax laws over the last few decades, as well as the economic volatility brought on by a global pandemic, have called into question the wisdom of making large lifetime gifts for estate planning and tax purposes. In today’s economic and tax environments, many professionals remain uncertain about whether advising clients to make lifetime gifts still makes sense. Given the large…
Your Role in the Trust Funding Process
For many clients, a revocable living trust is a valuable tool to ensure that the client’s finances are well managed during periods of incapacity and that the client’s loved ones are financially secure upon the client’s death. However, signing the trust agreement doesn’t end the estate planning process. The team (client, attorney, financial advisor, insurance agent, etc.) must take a final, crucial step–funding the trust.…
Retirement Account Basics for 2020 – Some Changes
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to volatile markets, and your retirement account may have a much smaller balance than only a few short months ago. In response to the economic fallout stemming from the pandemic, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which was signed into law on March 27, 2020. The CARES Act was primarily aimed at providing quick…
COVID Pandemic Preparation: 6 Estate Planning Essentials for Every Adult
With the number of COVID-19 cases in America increasing exponentially, people across the country are preparing themselves for every possible scenario. As a result, many estate planning attorneys are being inundated with calls and emails about how to plan for this type of pandemic. While the following six tools are essential for estate planning at any time, they are especially important during a time of…
Your Divorce Decree: The First Step in Estate Planning
You have recently divorced your spouse and the judge has signed the divorce decree. Now what? Although you may feel as though you have spent enough time and money on lawyers, there is one last attorney you need to talk to: an estate planning attorney. If you and your former spouse had estate planning done together previously, it is necessary for you to come in…
Preparing older and sick loved ones for flu and coronavirus
Here at Bernstein Law Group, PC, we are following the news about Coronavirus and a second burst of the traditional flu that’s impacting people in our community. While we don’t believe that anyone should panic, we do want to encourage anyone with older or immuno-compromised loved ones to be prepared. The CDC is encouraging everyone to have extra food and supplies on hand, in the event…
No Clawbacks Allowed: What Does This Mean for You and How to Take Advantage of This Gift
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doubled the gift and estate tax exclusion amount—i.e., the amount that can either be excluded from your estate when determining if your estate will owe any taxes when you pass away or the amount you can gift to individuals during your lifetime without owing any taxes—which had previously been $5 million (adjusted each year for inflation) per individual.…