Blog & Resources

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: < strong>My estate is worth about $4,000,000, which includes a $1,000,000 life insurance policy. At my death, my estate passes to my two children. Now that the Federal Estate Tax Exemption is at $5,000,000.00, what good is an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust for me?

In rough terms, as long as your estate stays under $5,000,000.00 (adjusted for inflation) at your death your estate will not owe any Federal Estate Tax, but you are a resident of Camden County, New Jersey, so you are forgetting about the New Jersey Inheritance Tax and the New Jersey Estate Tax. If your assets pass to your children, the New Jersey Inheritance Tax will be zero, but the New Jersey Estate Tax taxes all assets over $675,000.00.

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: I formed a Revocable Living Trust to avoid New York probate and named my two sons as the co-successor trustees. It seemed a good idea at the time, but now they are not speaking to one another. Should I change the trust?

Many New Yorkers have formed Revocable Living Trusts to avoid the expensive New York probate process. For the trust to work properly, after your death, you need a successor trustee to step in to pay your final bills, taxes and to then distribute the trust assets to your heirs.

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: How do I make sure the inheritance that I leave my daughter passes to my grandchildren at her death?

If you leave your daughter an inheritance outright, then-at her death-it will be available to satisfy any creditors or law suits she might have. It might even end up in her husband’s name, rather than passing to your grandchildren.

I am a resident of Atlantic County, New Jersey. If I have recently formed a Revocable Living Trust and moved all my New Jersey assets into the trust, do I still need a Will?

If the goal in forming your Revocable Living Trust was to avoid probate, then you must either transfer all your assets that would otherwise be Probate Assets into the trust during your lifetime or have them pour into the Revocable Trust at your death. That is often done by using a Payable on Death Account or naming the Trust as Beneficiary.

I am a resident of Gloucester County, New Jersey. If I have recently formed a Revocable Living Trust and moved all my New Jersey assets into the trust, do I still need a will?

If the goal in forming your Revocable Living Trust was to avoid probate, then you must either transfer all your assets that would otherwise be Probate Assets into the trust during your lifetime or have them pour into the Revocable Trust at your death. That is often done by using a Payable on Death Account or naming the Trust as Beneficiary.

New Jersey allows you to form a Revocable Living Trust. These trusts can own almost any asset including bank accounts, autos, stocks, gold, and your Atlantic County real estate. While Revocable Trusts can serve many purposes, the primary goal is to avoid probating the will with the Atlantic County Surrogate.

Trusts are becoming an ever more common part of our lives. You are not atypical any longer if you can talk about your Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts holding large life insurance policy on your life, or how you set up an Education Trusts to hold money earmarked for the education of generations of your family. But typically, the most likely trust that you would have is the Revocable Living Trust.

No matter what trust you form, there are three components. A Grantor who formed the trust, a Trustee who holds the asset, and the Beneficiary for whom the asset is held. In a Revocable Living Trust, the Grantor, Trustee and Beneficiary are all the same person. You form the trust, you transfer your assets to the trust and you hold them for your own benefit. For discussion about why you would form a Revocable Living Trust, please read my article Is a Revocable Living Trust Right for Me?.

If you are reading this Article, someone has likely told you that you need or should have a “Revocable Trust” or a “Living Trust”. In fact, you might have been told a horror story about what will happen if you do not have a Living Trust. You also might have attended a seminar where you were told that a Living Trust is a cure-all, and that for a certain dollar amount someone will draft a Revocable Living Trust for you and give it to you in a handsome, faux leather binder.

Is a Revocable Living Trust Right for you? Let me first give you some quick thoughts, then debunk some Revocable Living Trust myths and half truths. Finally, lets talk about the good things a Revocable Living Trust can do so you can deduce if the cost of setting up a Revocable Living Trust makes sense for you.

A revocable trust, or its more popular name a “Living Trust”, is an increasingly popular estate planning tool. The Living Trust serves many useful purposes, but many people are told that one purpose is to reduce taxes. This is not true. A Revocable Trust does not reduce income taxes, estate taxes, gift taxes, generation skipping taxes or inheritance taxes. In short, there is no tax advantage gained by a Living Trust. If someone is trying to sell you on the idea of forming a Revocable Trust based on tax savings, run away!

Some trusts do create various tax benefits. So why does a Living Trust provide no tax benefit?