Blog & Resources

Governor Tom Corbett’s announcement in May of 2014 that he will not pursue an appeal of U.S. District Judge John Jones’ decision in Whitewood v. Wolf means that same-sex marriage is legal and here to stay in Pennsylvania. What does this mean for the estate planning same sex couples who choose to marry?

For centuries, trusts have been formed to provide safety and protection for valued assets. Recent changes in the law have made this old institution even more popular by reducing trust’s ongoing maintenance costs. You might think that only the very wealthy need the protection of a trust, but the truth is that a trust is a huge benefit to anyone having an asset in need of protection from their children’s creditors, divorce or from self-destructive beneficiaries.

Parents are often tempted to place property in Joint Tenancy with children. Because the child becomes a co-owner of the asset, the child is able to have easy access to the account to help the parent pay bills and manage the asset. Further, at the parent’s death the asset automatically passes outright to the child. While this type of ownership might first appear convenient, it is important to realize the potential pitfalls that come with joint ownership. Sometimes convenience comes at a high price.

When most Philadelphians think about a will, they imagine a document that spells out how they wish their assets to be divided. While this is true, wills can do so much more.

A well-drafted Philadelphia will can appoint a responsible executor to manage your estate, name a responsible guardian to care for your underage children and ensure that your assets are divided as you wish at your death. While the will can address many of your goals, there are certain things that it cannot do, which is the principal reason why developing an estate plan must include more planning than simply drafting a will.

If you die in Camden County, New Jersey without a will, you are said to die “intestate”. Each state has developed its own rules about how the assets of intestate estates are divided among the living. These rules vary from state to state, but in general, your assets will be divided between your spouse and children. How your estate is divided between your spouse and child depends on your state of residence at the time of your death.

A revocable living trust is a trust created during lifetime over which the grantor reserves the right to terminate, revoke, modify, or amend. These trusts are generally used to avoid probate, provide assistance to a parent who needs help managing assets, address family situations, provide privacy and provide for orderly administration of assets after your death. During your lifetime, any assets in the revocable trust are used for your care. Because the trust is revocable the assets in the trust are still available to your creditors and are part of your taxable estate, but they are not part of you probate estate.

Any good estate plan considers the tax ramifications of your death and the possible ways to reduce those taxes. If your estate plan also includes giving money to charity, then a charitable remainder trust might be a useful tool that not only provides you with a way to fulfill your charitable gift, but also reduce your taxes.

Happily, 2014 continues to bring stability in the federal estate, gift and generation skipping taxes. For decades these taxes have been used as a political football, bouncing up and then down as politicians used the tax to drum up votes…and their campaign funds…rather than address the tax in a reasonable manner. Finally, things seem to have fallen into place and we can make long-term plans for our clients without guesswork. Of course things can always change, but the politicians have moved onto other issues, and the taxes now effect so few people, the political will to make change has dissipated.

Under the current rules, the federal estate tax exemption protects the vast majority of families from paying any federal estate tax. And, because the federal estate tax exemption is adjusted, over the years inflation will not grow estates so they are subject to the tax. For now, only the most wealthy families are subject to the estate tax and the number of federal estate tax returns Form 706 filed continues to shrink. From 2003 to 2102 the number fell 87%.

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?.