Friday, June 18, 2010

Press Coverage of Estate Planning this Week (June 18, 2010)

Daisy Maxey of the Wall Street Journal offers some reasons why college students ought to have wills, including ensuring that their parent’s estate planning is not disrupted. Absent a will, intestacy laws in most states would pass assets back to the parents where the son or daughter is not married and has no children. Passing money up a generation may lead to its being needlessly taxed when the parents pass on. See Planning for the Unthinkable (June 14, 2010).

David Kocieniewski of the New York Times questions the real impact of a return to the estate tax threshold of $1 million in 2011, suggesting estate planning and favorable tax provisions for small businesses make fewer estates liable for estate taxes. Furthermore, even with the low estate tax threshold, the number of affected estates would be low by historical standards. See What An Estate Tax Looks Like to the Taxman (June 11, 2010).

Paul Sullivan of the New York Times finds that the one-year repeal of the estate tax is making this a busy time for estate planners, both to fix older estate planning documents that didn't anticipate repeal of the estate tax, and to take advantage of estate planning methods that will likely soon be less appealing because of new legislation. See Confusion Over the Dormant Estate Tax Keeps Advisors Busy (June 11, 2010).

Annie Gasparro of the Wall Street Journal recounts some of the reasons that converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA may not make sense. She lists large near-term tax increases, owners too close to retirement, and potentially higher tax brackets during retirement. See Why You Shouldn’t Convert to a Roth IRA (June 14, 2010).

Kristen McNamara of the Wall Street Journal reviews actions taken by various states to attract trusts, including relaxing or voiding limits on how long a trust can last, eliminating income taxes for trusts, and enhancing asset protection features. See States Want Your Trust (June 14, 2010).