Friday, May 21, 2010

Press Coverage of Estate Planning this Week (May 21, 2010)

Michaela Cavallaro of Dow Jones Newswires recounts how a financial planner’s rearranging a client’s assets shortly before his death led to a significantly larger inheritance for his children. Estate planning vehicles, including an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT), are reported to have quadrupled the amount of money, after taxes, his four daughters would receive. See Digging Deeper to Create a Healthy Inheritance (May 19, 2010).

William Forsyth Jr., a senior fiduciary counsel at Bessemer Trust, shares five rules of thumb for legacy planning, including making children wait until at least age 28 to receive a large inheritance, distributing unequal gifts to children during life, but not after death, and making gifts during your lifetime, even if they are taxable. See William Forsyth Jr., On Rules for Legacy Planning (May 14, 2010).

John R. Sloan writes in Local Tech Wire about the basic rules and tools of asset protection. Many asset protection methods are relatively simple and effective, and include retitling assets in your spouse’s name, placing money in accounts protected by state and federal laws, and setting up business entities to segregate asset ownership. See Asset Protection Planning: Shoot Before the Buzzer (May 12, 2010).