For many people, life insurance is an integral tool in their estate planning arsenal. If you are counting on life insurance to help achieve some of your estate planning goals, it is imperative that you understand how the proceeds will be treated after you are gone. This is particularly true if you are considering naming a trust as the beneficiary of the policy. The Windsor Hills estate planning attorneys at Collins Law Group explain how paying life insurance to a trust works and why you might … [Read more...] about Can the Beneficiary of My Life Insurance Policy Be a Trust?
Are Your Digital Assets Included in Your Estate Plan?
When you create your estate plan you should make a written list of all the assets you own. In today’s electronic world, that includes your digital assets. Despite living in a digital world, people frequently fail to recognize and include digital assets in their estate plans. With that in mind, a Los Angeles estate planning attorney from Collins Law Firm encourages you to include your digital assets in your estate plan. What Are My Digital Assets? In just a short time frame, the … [Read more...] about Are Your Digital Assets Included in Your Estate Plan?
What Is a QTIP Trust?
Creating a comprehensive and cohesive estate plan often entails the inclusion of tools and strategies that can achieve a wide range of inter-related, though sometimes competing, goals and objectives. If you are part of a blended family, for example, you likely need to provide for your current spouse while also protecting assets intended for your children from a previous marriage. One estate planning tool that can help you do both is a Qualified Terminable Interest Property, or QTIP, trust. The … [Read more...] about What Is a QTIP Trust?
How Tax and Non-Tax Considerations Impact Estate Planning – Part I
Estate planning often focuses on taxes at the federal level and often overlooks issues that occur at the state level. For anyone desiring to undertake comprehensive estate planning, it’s important to understand the impact that the taxes imposed by the individual’s state of residence have on the plan as well as the character and type of assets allowed by the state. Estate Planning is complex and requires an expert in these matters to advise clients properly. Read on to learn more. … [Read more...] about How Tax and Non-Tax Considerations Impact Estate Planning – Part I
How Tax and Non-Tax Considerations Impact Estate Planning – Part II
People often believe that Estate Planning is a “simple” process designed only for those whose estates will exceed the Applicable Exclusion Amount of $12.92 million in 2023. That myopic view causes many who should undertake Estate Planning to skip it altogether or to look for ways to complete the planning on their own without the services of a qualified Estate Planning attorney. As the last article in this two-part series demonstrated, numerous taxes impact Estate Planning. This second part of … [Read more...] about How Tax and Non-Tax Considerations Impact Estate Planning – Part II
The Joy in Joint Trusts
Joint trusts offer clients many benefits both during life and after death. Those with joint trusts need to understand the limitations inherent in the trust and the importance of seeking qualified counsel upon the death of the first spouse to ensure that the trust administration runs smoothly. A recent Michigan case highlights what happens when the surviving spouse fails to do that or simply ignores the terms of the trust altogether. Read on to learn more. … [Read more...] about The Joy in Joint Trusts
Contemplating Marriage? Be Sure to Protect Your Assets
If you are planning to marry soon, now is the time to think about protecting your assets from the possibility of that marriage ending in divorce. Hopefully, your marriage will be one that endures the test of time; however, the reality is that one out of every two first marriages end in divorce in the United States. Your odds are even less optimistic if you are entering into a second or subsequent marriage. With those odds in mind, a Los Angeles estate planning attorney at Collins Law Firm … [Read more...] about Contemplating Marriage? Be Sure to Protect Your Assets
Planning for the International Client
As the world shrinks due to increased mobility and interconnectedness, estate planning has become more complex. Now estate planning requires understanding issues that arise when a client owns assets in another country or resides in the U.S. but lacks citizen status. Things change for clients who neither reside in the U.S., nor have U.S. citizenship, but who own U.S. property. Read on to learn more. … [Read more...] about Planning for the International Client
Trust Administration Basics for the First-Time Trustee
Ideally, when a Settlor (the creator) of a trust agreement appoints a Trustee, they discuss the appointment with the intended Trustee first. That doesn’t always happen though. A surprising number of people only find out that they are the Trustees of a trust after the death of the Settlor in the case of a testamentary trust. If you find yourself facing Los Angeles trust administration, and you have never acted as the Trustee of a trust before, you are probably wondering where to start. One of the … [Read more...] about Trust Administration Basics for the First-Time Trustee
What Advantages Do Trusts Provide?
Many people feel as though trusts are only useful for the wealthiest people. It is true that high net worth families do benefit from certain types of trusts, largely because they can be exposed to the estate tax. The federal estate tax is potentially applicable on asset transfers that exceed $5.43 million. We can look at these wealth preservation trusts in a different blog post, but in this post, we will look at some of the advantages that trusts can provide for people who are not necessarily … [Read more...] about What Advantages Do Trusts Provide?
