The Wealth & Wisdom Blog

Information on Estate Planning, Estate and Trust Administration and Unique Asset Planning

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Minnesota Estate Taxes

Back in 2017, Governor Mark Dayton signed a Minnesota tax bill into law that, among other items, specifies the Minnesota estate tax rate and estate tax exemption amounts.  Minnesota residents with significant assets should be aware of these exemption amounts and why so-called “Credit Shelter Trust” planning (also known as A/B Planning or “Credit Shelter […]

Minnesota Residency Requirements

In order to establish and maintain residency for tax purposes outside of Minnesota, a taxpayer must meet both of two tests-a “physical presence” test, and a subjective “intent” test.

Asset Ownership: Survivorship Rights on Jointly-Owned Property

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 […]

Estate Planning for a Blended Family

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 […]

Marital Trust Planning

You can provide for your spouse through either an “outright” gift of all your assets, or through a plan to allocate your assets to a “marital trust” for his or her benefit.