Blog & Resources

Addressing your blended LGBT family in your estate plan is a good idea. Though you may not wish to treat your Partner’s children the same way you treat your biological children, by at least mentioning them or giving them a small gift you may avoid hurt feelings and potential conflict.

Making gifts to nieces and nephews for Pennsylvanians forces the calculation of the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax. The tax is levied on the transfer of your assets at your death, and the rates differ depending on who is the recipient.

Life insurance is not subject to the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax, making it an excellent tool to make gifts to those who would otherwise be subject to the tax.

If you have life insurance, you likely have determined that if you die there is a financial need that must be addressed by your absence. Because of this determination, you pay a small amount each year in premium to the life insurance company for the guarantee that if you die a larger sum of money will be delivered to the named beneficiary.

Crafting an estate plan for a client means listening to what the client wants, explaining options to the client and then drafting a plan to meet the option selected. At times, a client’s circumstances require imaginative ideas. Here are some examples of imaginative estate planning that Klenk Law has utilized recently.

1. Protectors:
It remains a mystery to me why more estate planning attorneys do not use Protectors. A Protector is a person or persons you appoint to oversee a trustee with the power to fire and replace the trustee without the need of an attorney or a court hearing. No court hearing or attorney is necessary? Perhaps that is the reason why estate planning lawyers don’t use them? I use them in almost every trust. Even the most trusted person or bank can have problems, and if these problems negatively affect the trust, the Protector can “protect” the beneficiary without months of litigation.