One of the things that makes managing legal issues so challenging is that the laws are always changing. This blog is designed to help you stay current on many of the latest changes.
The thought that your child may have to survive on his or her own before they are ready is every parent’s worst fear; it’s what keeps many parents up at night, and what brings many parents into our offices asking about trusts, guardians, and estate plans. For parents of children with special needs that fear […]
read more...How dead do you have to be before the government can tap your estate for estate taxes? Do you have to be only kind of dead, or do you have to be fully dead-dead? This is the subject of a new law review article by Adam Chodorow of the Arizona State University law school, as […]
read more...When legislation in 2010 raised the lifetime gift tax exclusion amount from $1 million to $5 million many wealthy families rejoiced, expecting that they would now be able to give large gifts to children or grandchildren and be able to save millions in taxes at the same time. But for all the rejoicing, the unsteady […]
read more...One of the unspoken rules in many families is that you don’t talk about money, and you especially don’t talk about money with your kids. What many parents are finding out, however, is that keeping hush-hush about money matters leaves children unprepared, unappreciative, and uncomfortable when they eventually come into their large inheritance. A writer […]
read more...Our last blog post mentions upcoming changes to tax law this winter, and what further changes may be in store once November comes around and we know who will be in the White House next year. This could be interpreted as a reason to wait on making any changes to your estate plan; why update […]
read more...Curiosity and excitement are always to be expected in an election year—especially curiosity about taxes. We all know that each presidential candidate has very different philosophies about where the tax burden lies, how much should be paid, and by whom; but all most of us really want to know is how the implementation of each […]
read more...Throughout history artists and their artwork have often been on the leading edge of controversy. In a recent brou-ha-ha between the heirs of the New York art dealer Ileana Sonnabend and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service the controversy is over nothing less than the value of art—although perhaps not “value of art” in the philosophical […]
read more...Every time a celebrity couple splits up news sources start asking questions about prenuptial agreements. It’s been no different during the past few weeks as news and speculation about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ divorce leaks out. But prenuptial agreements aren’t only for celebrities, and they aren’t only for the rich and famous. In fact, […]
read more...The year your child turns 18 is an important year: it’s the year they’re able to vote for the first time, it’s usually the year they graduate from high school, and it’s the year your child becomes an adult in the eyes of the law. Some parents find it difficult to think of their new […]
read more...Every parent wants to love and treat all their children the same, but when it comes to estate planning, not every child should be treated the same. In fact, insisting on treating all children exactly the same in an estate plan can often lead to disastrous consequences.
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