Friday, July 29, 2011 Recent Press Coverage of Estate Planning (July 29, 2011)
Saabira Chaudhuri of the Wall Street Journal notes that when completing your estate plan, you shouldn’t lose focus of some of the smaller, but important, details. One area often overlooked is what will happen to your pets. There are approximately 165 million dogs and cats in this country, and roughly 400,000 need to find a new home every year because their owners die. Also, if you have engaged in preserving sperm, eggs or embryos because you had cancer, were in the military or other high-risk occupation, don’t forget to spell what should happen to the cryopreserved gametes if you should die. See When Estate Plans Fail (July 23, 2011).
Kelly Greene of the Wall Street Journal stresses the importance of taking 15 minutes to write down your important user names and passwords for online accounts, including financial accounts, social networking accounts, and photo sites, among others. Without this information, your survivors could spend months trying to locate and access your important accounts. See PINs That Needle Families (July 23, 2011).
Paul Sullivan of the New York Times writes about charitable lead trusts (CLT) and why they are becoming popular again. The $5 million exemption level for the federal estate taxes alongside record low interest rates make CLTs good vehicles to pass more money to your heirs tax free. See A Trust Surges, Heirs and Taxes in Mind, But Mind the Details (July 22, 2011). |