By now you have probably heard that on December 17, 2010, Congress increased the estate tax exemption to 5 million dollars. You may also have heard the new term “portability” thrown about; read that the estate, gift, and GST taxes have once again been “reunified” at the 5 million dollar level; and that this is [...]
Apparently the suspicion surrounding end-of-life planning is not as far in the past as we might have hoped. The recent Medicare regulation which would have allowed the government to pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care was rescinded only days after it was enacted. Why such an abrupt turnaround? The reason [...]
I’ve been a practicing lawyer in Scottsdale for over 30 years and I have never witnessed a fire-storm like the rage that has engulfed the probate system in the past two years. I’d like to bring some sanity to the story and suggest a sensible solution. If you haven’t read the horrible stories or [...]
By now everyone knows that the President has signed a tax bill. The question now on everyone’s mind is exactly what did he sign, and what does it mean to you? Lower payroll taxes in 2011 and the historically low rates of taxes on dividends are good for all of us (not so good [...]
Much has been written and discussed about the absence of an estate tax in 2010. The debate about what Congress may do rages on and is spiced up with stories about the death of George Steinbrenner and others like the Texas billionaire Dan Duncan, but the little publicized truth is that the 1 year [...]
I recently came across a New York Times article that reminded me of an all too common experience I encounter in my estate planning practice. In the article author Ron Lieber recounts his experiment with 4 different Do-It-Yourself will drafting software programs and the outcome. Although Lieber goes through the pros and cons of [...]
Like most estate planning lawyers, all through the first decade of the 21st century, I thought we would not see a return to the $1,000,000 exemption. As a consequence, the excellent estate plans I’ve been drafting for the past 9 years are now out of date. Under the new and unexpected tax laws these [...]
Who would you like to have with you when you are ill or injured in the hospital? Most likely you would hope to have your partner of many years there with you to hold your hand when things get rough. Although many of us take for granted that we would be allowed that luxury, until [...]
On July 13, 2009 Arizona governor Janet Brewer signed HB 2616 into law. The law, hailed by the right to life movement as a great victory, intrudes on your right to privacy and injects the state into the midst of the dying decision of every Arizonan without a living will that expresses the intention [...]
If you are currently or soon may be serving as the trustee of an irrevocable trust you should be aware that the Arizona Trust Code (ATC), which became effective January 1, 2009, imposes certain new obligations on trustees of irrevocable trusts. Prior to January 1, 2009, ARS §14-7303 required the trustee to provide beneficiaries [...]