At your death, any asset owned in your individual name and that does not pass either by (1) joint ownership with rights of survivorship, (2) by beneficiary designation or (3) by a revocable trust becomes owned by your “estate.” Your estate is an intangible legal entity, like a partnership or a corporation, which becomes the […]
Certain types of jointly-owned (co-owned) assets automatically pass to the surviving co-owner at death as a “right of survivorship.” For example, most of my married clients purchased their residence as “joint tenants with right of survivorship.” As a legal attribute of this kind of ownership, the ownership on the property is automatically transferred to the […]
Many of our married clients have children that are not the children of both the husband and wife. Knowing many of these families personally, I know the joy that the parents have in treating both their own children, as well as their step-children, as equal members of the household. While many of our married clients […]
You can choose to benefit a child or other beneficiary through one of two means: (1) through an “outright” gift, or (2) to an ongoing “testamentary trust” for the benefit of the child or other beneficiary. We assist our clients understand the pros and cons of each approach, as it is critically important to understand […]
To accomplish your estate planning objectives, you could implement a plan through one of two different legal documents. You could utilize either a traditional Will, or you could utilize a plan focused on the use of a Revocable Trust, also sometimes referred to as a “Living Trust.” In comparison to using a Will, implementing a […]
In order to minimize the incidence of Minnesota estate taxes following the death of the surviving spouse, a married couple residing in Minnesota who own assets in excess of $3.0M should include specific provisions in their estate plan during their joint lifetimes. Through the creation of a “Tax Savings Trust” following the first death between […]
Under federal income tax law, a capital gains income tax is imposed on the difference between the price for which an investment is sold and the price for which the investment was originally purchased. For example, if Joe purchases a stock for $10, then sells it at $110, Joe will owe a capital gains tax […]