The Time and Expense of Having No Will
People will sometimes ask me why they need a will if they don’t have any probate assets. This might be because they believe everything is owned jointly with right of survivorship or because they own nothing. It usually turns out, however, that they do own something. It might be a car that is
Changing Distributions After Death – Part 3
In my last two posts I have been talking about the challenge of redistributing an inheritance after death. Many people assume that they are free to accept the sum bequeathed to them or not and that is absolutely true. But as I explained last week, there are tax ramifications, specifically gift
Changing Distributions After Death – Part 1
Often when we have an estate administration matter, the will being probated is an old one. In some cases the person never actually executed a will although he or she may have communicated to family members his/her wishes with regard to the distribution of assets. In other cases the family members agree
New IRS Regulations Applicable to SECURE Act – Part 4
In this last post on the new SECURE Act regulations we’ll cover how naming a trust as a beneficiary of a retirement account is affected by this new law. First, however, lets look at the problem of naming a trust as beneficiary and how the law before SECURE Act treated trusts. Before
New IRS Regulations Applicable to SECURE Act – Part 3
In this third post on new proposed IRS regulations applicable to the SECURE Act, I cover cases where a disabled individual is the beneficiary of a retirement account. Before I do, however, let’s briefly review the changes made by the SECURE Act. The law, which became effective for 2020 tax year,
New IRS Regulations Applicable to SECURE Act – Part 2
The subject of last week’s post was the proposed regulations concerning the SECURE Act which was passed by Congress and signed by President Trump at the end of 2019. This law made significant changes to the rules concerning IRAs and other tax deferred retirement accounts. To briefly summarize, while the new law
New IRS Regulations Applicable to SECURE Act
I last posted about the SECURE Act a year ago. (2/28/21, 3/8/21 and 3/14/21) This law was passed by Congress at the end of 2019 and it included significant changes concerning retirement accounts, including IRAs and employer sponsored tax deferred accounts such as 401ks. The law was mostly negative although it did
Why It Pays to Have a Carefully Drafted POA – Part 2
In my post last week I told you about a call we received from a family member serving as agent under power of attorney (POA) for a client of ours. The son had been refused access to his mother’s individual retirement account (IRA) account because the bank claimed that the POA did
If I Move to Another State Do I Need to Update my Legal Documents? (Part 2)
If I Move to Another State Do I Need to Update my Legal Documents? (Part 2) In my post last week I discussed the need to update a power of attorney or health care directive when one moves from one state to another. This week we talk about wills and trusts. Is there
If I Move to Another State Do I Need to Update my Documents?
It’s a common question we get from clients who intend to move out of New Jersey. We also get calls from people moving to New Jersey who want us to review estate planning documents prepared in another state. These documents may include wills, powers of attorney, health care directives and trusts. Do these