Category: Blog

We've dealt with these terms before on this blog, but it never hurts to conduct a refresher now and then. The following are terms that are commonly used, and we want to make sure you know what they are.   The estate-tax exemption   This is the amount you can leave to your heirs without incurring any federal estate tax. For 2015, the limit is $5.43 million. If you have a spouse, both of you are entitled to this exemption, each. Not only that, but if one spouse dies, any amount of that exemption that hasn't been used rolls over… Read More

The lives of Americans, including Georgians,  have become increasingly digital. That means a lot more of our assets are based on ones and zeroes and they are not entirely tangible, at least by the traditional definition. Increasingly, our digital assets are located elsewhere, outside of our possession and control, such as those we create online. Unfortunately, the law hasn't kept with our technological reality, and estate planners all over the country, including those in the Atlanta region, are trying to advise clients on how to deal with these digital assets when they die or become incapacitated.   If you're typical, you… Read More

Estate planners love to help families; at least we do. It's why we do what we do. And one of the things we love the most comes with the aspect of the process that leads to protecting a family's legacy and traditions, or even creating new ones for future generations. This part of the process involves a lot more than nuts and bolts and tax avoidance and asset protection; it delves into the real reason you craft an estate plan in the first place; to protect your family. And part of that protection can include their legacy and traditions.   … Read More

Estate planning isn't always the easiest subject to broach with anyone, but to those who are self-employed, the topic can lead to something akin to panic. For those who own a business, the process can be very complicated, but it's even more complicated when the business is a very small one. Besides considering business assets, including business accounts, there are a number of other issues to consider. For example, self-employed people too often are unable to afford a good health insurance plan or even catastrophic health insurance.  They are also less likely to be able to afford long-term care protection, which means… Read More

Most Americans have at least one pet, and most who do consider their pet to be part of their family. Unfortunately, when making an estate plan, many of those people forget about including that pet in their Estate Plan; sometimes, it's because they don't realize that such a thing can be an integral part of any estate plan. Estate planners in Atlanta and elsewhere have quite a few ways to help clients take care of their pets after they're gone; they just have to let more  people know that, just as pets are an important part of your family, they… Read More

The dominoes are falling and same-sex marriages are only a few court cases away from becoming reality nationwide. Currently, marriage equality is a reality in 36 states, and the Supreme Court is set to rule on the validity of same-sex marriage licenses sometime this term. By this summer, same-sex couples could be free to marry anywhere. Or they may not. No one knows.   So, what does all of this mean with regard to your family's estate planning? It means everything is really complicated, but there is hope that things will become easier sometime soon. Or maybe not.   In those states that… Read More

When Robin Williams committed suicide six months ago, he left behind three grown children from his first two marriages and a widow of less than three years. Unlike many Americans, Williams actually went out of his way to create a thoroughly detailed estate plan, including several trusts that were crafted to benefit all of them. Even the trust he established for his widow was consistent with the prenuptial agreement the two of them signed before they were married in 2011.   By creating such a thoughtful plan, it's obvious Williams intended to avoid the family fighting that often accompanies probate proceedings,… Read More

With portability now a crucial tool in the estate planners' arsenal, a great many have turned away from a traditional approach to estate planning, in which the estate is divided between a marital and bypass trust.  If the entire unused estate tax credit will continue to be available at the death of the surviving spouse, there is less need to use the bypass trust at all, because everything can go to the surviving spouse via a marital trust. Unfortunately, other questions arise, such as, what if the children need to use funds that are tied up in the trust while… Read More

The first quarter of any year is a great time to undertake a thorough review of your estate plan. At the very least, everyone with an estate plan should undertake a review every few years, since some key aspects of your plan may no longer be relevant to your family's needs. One great example of this comes with irrevocable trusts, or even revocable trusts, which can often become irrevocable after the person passes. The main purpose of an irrevocable trust is to keep certain assets away from taxable estates. However, as people age and their family transforms and changes, an irrevocable… Read More

It's 2015, and let's face it; the idea of the "traditional family" has become very dated. Unfortunately, when it comes to putting together an estate plan, the laws still favor the "traditional family" as it existed back in the 1950s. If you have that, great; your plan will probably be easier to set up. But if it's not, there may be a lot more to think about. If your family structure is non-traditional, you may derive comfort from numbers; you are in no way alone. In the United States, the number of households headed by married couples has been falling for years… Read More