Estate Planning & Tax Group
Asset Protection
In prior years, many people formed Florida limited liability companies (LLCs) thinking that assets owned by the LLC could not be attached by creditors and that a creditor would not be permitted to take direct ownership of the LLC membership …
Planning in a Low Interest Rate Environment
Although the future of the estate tax is murky at best, the present continues to be an appropriate time to take advantage of certain wealth transfer strategies. The interest rates in March remain historically low, and the Section 7520 rate …
Gifting Opportunities in 2012
The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (the 2010 Act) created a two-year gift tax “applicable exclusion amount” of $5 million, indexed for inflation to $5,120,000 for the year 2012. Unless Congress takes further action, …
2010 Decedents and the Necessary Estate Tax Opt-Out Procedures
If a member of your family with assets in excess of $5 million died in 2010, you may consider the estate tax savings associated with making an election to opt out of the 2010 estate tax system. The recently issued …
America’s Debt Solution Could Be Your Estate Planning Problem
On August 2, 2011, President Obama signed the Budget Control Act of 2011 (the “Act”), which may lead to a reduction in, or elimination of, many benefits of estate tax planning strategies that are available to you under current law. …
Gould Cooksey Fennell, P.A. welcomes Jonathan Fitzgerald to the Firm
Gould Cooksey Fennell, P.A. is pleased to announce that Jonathan L. Fitzgerald is now associated with the Firm. Mr. Fitzgerald has joined the Firm’s Estate Planning and Tax Group, which presently consists of six attorneys with a concentrated focus on …
Repeal of the Federal Estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes
The Estate Planning and Tax Group is currently providing fiduciaries of trusts and estates of decedents that died in 2010 with advice in connection with the unusual issues arising from the current repeal of the federal estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes. …
New Protections for Trustees Managing Insurance Policies
Historically, life insurance policies were relatively simple investments that could be easily managed without any specialized knowledge of modern life insurance complexities. However, in today’s world, life insurance products have become increasingly more sophisticated. If you are the trustee of an Irrevocable Life …
Give to the Grandchildren Now
The one-year “repeal” of the estate tax continues to surprise us. One element of this change in the tax law for 2010 is the full repeal of the Generation Skipping Transfer tax (the ”GST tax”). And, with 3/4ths of the year gone, it is becoming less likely that …