The Secure Act or THE SETTING EVERY COMMUNITY UP FOR RETIREMENT ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2019 was passed in late-December and is effective as of January 1, 2020 (with some exceptions, we will discuss later.) In the coming weeks we will be discussing what the Secure Act is and how it is going to affect all of…
Gloria Vanderbilt chose early on that her family’s legacy would be hard work and determination without the backing of a large trust fund. Perhaps this was fueled by the turmoil she endured as a child that seemed to have roots in her family’s money. Gloria Vanderbilt was born in 1924 as the great great granddaughter…
In December of 2014 the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (ABLE) was signed into law. Many special needs clients and their families have been shy about using ABLE accounts because HUD and other government programs did not make an official statement of how they would treat ABLE accounts until May of this year. Here…
The intention of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 is to make it easier for Americans to start retirement funding earlier in life, but some are calling it the Extreme Death Tax for IRA and Retirement Plan Owner’s Act. Currently only 40% of Americans utilize their retirement benefits offered by…
An intentionally defective grantor (IDGT) trust is an estate-planning tool used to freeze certain assets of an individual for estate-tax purposes, but not for income-tax purposes. The intentionally defective trust is created as a grantor trust with a purposeful flaw that ensures the individual continues to pay income taxes, as income tax laws will not recognize that assets have…
By The Wealthcounsel The United States Supreme Court rarely addresses trusts and estates issues. The purview of the states, issues arising in intergenerational wealth transfers, are generally outside federal jurisdiction. To reach the U.S. Supreme Court, trusts and estates cases typically involve federal preemption or the constitutionality of a state’s law; the latter has…
