Archive for the ‘Estate Planning’ Category
Monday, May 5th, 2008
Questionable estate planning has gotten some recent attention with the sudden death of actor Heath Ledger. The 27-year-old actor died suddenly this year with an older will that provided only for his parents and other immediate family – he never revised those documents to accommodate his young daughter or the ...
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Saturday, April 5th, 2008
The reason why some parents hesitate to make an estate plan is understandable. It calls into consideration your worst fears – the possibility of your death or your kids facing life without one or the other parent.
But what about an even worse scenario – the possibility that you ...
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Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
At one point, the buzzword was “viatical settlements,” a practice of selling one’s active life insurance policy to a company that would pay the insured the estimated present value of the death benefit so uninsured healthcare costs and related expenses could be paid. Such settlements grew in popularity during the ...
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Saturday, January 5th, 2008
Back in 2001, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act triggered a gradual increase in the dollar threshold of estates subject to the estate tax. In tax years 2007 and 2008, estates valued at more than $2 million may be taxed as much as 45 percent, while in tax ...
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Monday, November 26th, 2007
When rich families squabble over the family legacy, it becomes headline news. Witness the recent battle over the ownership of the Wall Street Journal between members of the Bancroft family. When approached by media titan Rupert Murdoch, various family members fought over whether to preserve the family legacy at the ...
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Monday, November 26th, 2007
The airwaves are full of cautionary tales of young people with too much money too soon – wretched excess is in, and responsibility seems, well, pretty boring. And your last name doesn’t have to be “Hilton” for you to worry.
Inheritances, trust funds and other benefits from hard-earned family fortunes ...
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Tuesday, July 18th, 2006
The federal estate tax may or may not be repealed or reformed anytime soon. But such discussions in Washington should not dampen the use of irrevocable life insurance trusts as a still very viable and valuable planning tool and technique which has applications beyond the tax efficient ...
Posted in Estate Planning, Life Insurance | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 16th, 2005
Preplanning your own funeral, while difficult for most of us, can help ease the emotional and financial burden for your survivors at a stressful time. But should you pay in advance for your funeral?
Prepaying for a cemetery plot, for the funeral ...
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Wednesday, July 20th, 2005
True, it may seem unromantic. But couples who plan to exchange marriage vows ought to consider a prenuptial agreement long before saying I do.
Yes, there was a time when only the wealthy executed such agreements. But now more and more couples, especially those who have been married before or who ...
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Sunday, May 1st, 2005
Do you know where the beneficiary forms are to your individual retirement accounts? For that matter, do you know who are your IRA beneficiaries?
You may think you know, but when was the last time you checked? Has it been years? Did you even fill out the beneficiary form provided by ...
Posted in Estate Planning, IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, TSP(s) | No Comments »
