Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends, The Obama victory and a democrat controlled Senate will translate into higher gift and estate taxes when the law sunsets at the end of 2012 and no prospect for an estate tax repeal, at least for the next 4 years. Now that the election is over, we expect a rush by those who were expecting a President Romney and with him, an extension of the […]

Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends, There are only two months remaining before the $5.12M gift tax exclusion law will sunset taking us back to the pre-2011 $1M gift tax exclusion. For those taxpayers who haven’t yet jumped on the bandwagon (to take advantage of what is arguably the “greatest tax benefit” in the history of our Union) time is running short–not because the appropriate trust can’t be timely formed, but […]

Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends, On October 18, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service announced that starting January 1, 2013, the annual amount an individual is able to give to another person free of negative tax consequences, otherwise known as the annual exclusion amount, will be increased from $13,000 to $14,000. When spouses combine their annual exclusions, they will now be able to gift up to $28,000 per individual to as […]

Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends, One of the most often asked questions by our clients is “Where is the best place to establish my LLC?” There are many formidable choices to select from, but the recent Nevada Supreme Court case of Weddell vs. H2O, Inc. appears to have answered that question once and for all. Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) and Family Limited Partnerships (FLPs) have long been used both for […]

Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends, We have about six months left before the new year and the expiration of many of the Bush Tax Cut rules that we have all enjoyed for almost a decade. But the most significant of all of the expiring tax laws is the reduction of the $5.12M gift tax exclusion to $1M. Why should you care? Because transferring up to $5M out of the estate […]

Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends, As we have noted in our previous Client Alerts, the current law provides unprecedented gift tax planning opportunities. Until the end of this year, the gift tax exclusion (which is cumulative over one’s lifetime) is $5,120,0000. In addition, the law allows each person to make annual gifts of up to $13,000 to any donee without reporting the gift to the IRS. To this end, during […]

Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends, As we mentioned in our recent CLIENT ALERT, the Obama Administration’s 2013 Revenue Raising Proposals contained several suggestions that, if enacted, would eliminate commonly-used estate planning techniques that have been effective in significantly reducing an individual’s estate and gift taxes and, in some instances, even eliminate all gift and estate taxes. Earlier this month, we discussed the proposal to reduce the effectiveness of dynasty trusts. […]

Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends, In previous Client Alerts, we have described the necessity and benefits of instituting effective “firewalls” in your estate planning to protect assets and lifestyle from an unforeseen financially ruinous lawsuit. Often this advice goes unheeded until an incident arises which makes it too late to do any planning. We recently came across this following article in which the insurance industry similarly acknowledges the risks of […]

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Clients, This week, the Obama Administration released its report detailing the myriad of changes coming to the tax laws, many of which are slated to take effect by the end of this year. This announcement should come as no surprise to our Client Alert recipients, as we have been warning of this coming tidal wave of change for the past two years. Under the guise of […]

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Clients, Individuals often implement asset protection strategies to protect their personal assets from the individual’s unforeseen creditors. In today’s litigious society, it is necessary that the prudent businessperson consider utilizing asset protection strategies not only to protect one’s individual assets, but also to protect those assets owned by the company. This Client Alert will focus on two techniques used to protect the assets of both the […]