Trump’s First 100 Days: Looking Back and Planning Ahead

Posted by Robert L. Arone – How to Help Your Clients Future-Proof Their Estate Plans Through tried and true estate planning measures, we can make sure your clients’ plans are both flexible enough to handle change and sturdy enough to weather the uncertainty. In addition to providing wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and other core documents that make up a sound estate plan, we will continue to keep our fingers on the pulse of the legislative developments that will matter to them most. While there have been several proposals that may impact estate planning, no significant changes have already taken effect. Let’s begin with a quick look back at these first 100 days and consider what they’ve meant for the U.S. tax and healthcare landscape. Then we’ll discuss strategies that can be used to make sure your clients’ estate plan are future-proof. Actions from the first 100 days that could

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How a Community Property Trust Can Save Tens of Thousands of Dollars in Capital Gains Taxes

Posted by Robert L. Arone – Community property trusts can save your clients tens of thousands of dollars in capital gains taxes, and that is just one of their many benefits. This lesser-known strategy is not necessarily the best fit for all couples either because of their assets or state of residence. However, for households you work with that can make the most of them, it is a planning tactic that could have a significant impact on keeping more of the value of their estates in the family. These trusts offer a huge benefit to couples who take advantage of them. There’s also a lot to gain for their financial advisors. Thanks to the double step-up for property held in this type of trust, your clients will retain a significant amount of wealth that would otherwise go to the IRS because of capital gains tax. So it is a solution

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IRS Uses Private Collection Companies

By Eric P. Rothenberg, Esq. – The Internal Revenue Service [“IRS”] announced on April 5th , 2017 that they will begin to use private collection agencies to collect back taxes owed. Soon, the IRS will begin its process of sending letters to certain taxpayers that their past due federal tax accounts are being turned over to a private debt collection agency. This isn’t the first time they had this program. It’s a renewed program that uses private-sector collection agencies (PCA) which were first authorized under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation [“FAST”] Act of 2015. “Here’s a simple rule to keep in mind. You won’t get a call from a private collection firm unless you have unpaid tax debts going back several years and you’ve already heard from the IRS multiple times,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “The people included in the private collection program typically already know they have a

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Estate Planning Should Always be a Team Effort

Posted by Robert L. Arone – A Team of Coordinated Professionals Is Your Clients’ Best Bet Picture a symphony’s worth of classical musicians all trying to play a piece in perfect harmony, but they can’t see one another. Each of them also has slightly different sheet music. It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to know it’s not going to sound pretty. That’s what it’s like for clients whose various advisors don’t communicate. Of course, an individual’s wealth management strategy doesn’t come from just one part of their approach, but rather a comprehensive and holistic combination of the efforts of several professionals. A little miscommunication goes a long way You might be surprised to consider just how often disjointed planning and advising can impact a client’s long-term financial well-being. Estate planning attorneys, CPAs, financial advisors, and insurance agents may have access to the same initial set of client documents

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The Superior Alternative to “I Love You” Wills

Posted by Robert L. Arone – Guide Your Clients to Lifetime Beneficiary Directed Trusts Instead As Valentine’s Day brings heart-shaped chocolate boxes and roses by the dozen into your clients’ imaginations, seize the moment to educate them about the drawbacks of “I love you” wills and introduce them to the estate planning move that’s actually going to ensure they do well by their loved ones: a lifetime beneficiary trust. You may already be well aware of what estate attorneys call “I love you” wills. You can recognize these wills because they are often short and their hallmark is that the maker of the will leaves everything, outright, to his or her surviving spouse. Hence the “I love you” name: “I love you so much, I’m leaving everything to you.” But this all-too-common approach creates significant risk for beneficiaries and, contrary to their name, is often not the most caring of

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