No matter how diligently you prepare, your estate plan can quickly be derailed if you or a loved one requires long-term home health care or an extended stay at an assisted living facility or nursing home. Long-term care (LTC) expenses aren’t covered by traditional health insurance policies or Medicare. So it’s important to have a
Estate Archives - Crawford Ellenbogen
May 4, 2023
Dec 21, 2022
Annual gift tax exclusion amount increases for 2023
- By Joan Ellenbogen
- Estate
- 0 Comments
Did you know that one of the most effective estate-tax-saving techniques is also one of the simplest and most convenient? By making maximum use of the annual gift tax exclusion, you can pass substantial amounts of assets to loved ones during your lifetime without any gift tax. For 2022, the amount is $16,000 per recipient.
Dec 15, 2022
Understand your spouse’s inheritance rights if you’re getting remarried
- By Victor Dozzi
- Estate, Financial Planning
- 0 Comments
If you’re taking a second trip down the aisle, you may have different expectations than you did when you got married the first time — especially when it comes to estate planning. For example, if you have children from a previous marriage, your priority may be to provide for them. Or perhaps you feel that
Oct 4, 2022
If you’re moving out of state, review your estate plan
- By Victor Dozzi
- Estate
- 0 Comments
Are you planning to move to a different state? It may be due to a change in jobs, a desire for a better climate, an opportunity to downsize or to be closer to your kids. In any event, you’ll have to cope with some hassles, including securing motor vehicle registrations, finding new physicians and updating
Aug 16, 2022
Avoid these 4 estate planning pitfalls
- By Victor Dozzi
- Estate
- 0 Comments
No one likes to contemplate his or her own mortality. But ignoring the need for an estate plan or procrastinating in the creation of one is asking for trouble. If you haven’t started the process, don’t delay any longer. For your estate plan to achieve your goals, avoid these four pitfalls: Pitfall #1: Failing to
Jul 27, 2022
Estates now have an additional three years to file for a portability election
- By Joan Ellenbogen
- Estate
- 0 Comments
Portability allows a surviving spouse to apply a deceased spouse’s unused federal gift and estate tax exemption amount toward his or her own transfers during life or at death. To secure these benefits, however, the deceased spouse’s executor must have made a portability election on a timely filed estate tax return. Unfortunately, estates that aren’t
Jul 20, 2022
4 estate planning documents your college-aged child should have
- By Joan Ellenbogen
- Estate
- 0 Comments
Does your college-aged child have a basic estate plan? In more cases than not, the answer is “no.” The good news is that the summer months are the perfect time to enlist the help of an estate planning advisor to create a plan, as your child will be available to sign the documents before heading
Jul 5, 2022
When should you turn down an inheritance?
- By Joan Ellenbogen
- Estate
- 0 Comments
If you expect to receive an inheritance from a family member, you might want to use a qualified disclaimer to refuse the bequest. As a result, the assets will bypass your estate and go directly to the next beneficiary in line. It’s as if the successor beneficiary, not you, had been named as the beneficiary
Mar 2, 2022
Use the net gift technique to reduce your gift tax rate
- By Victor Dozzi
- Estate
- 0 Comments
If you’re concerned about the impact of transfer taxes on your gifts, consider making “net gifts” to your loved ones. A net gift is simply a gift for which the recipient agrees to pay the gift tax, thereby reducing the value of the gift for tax purposes. It may also be possible to reduce its
Feb 24, 2022
The donor-advised fund: A powerful vehicle for charitable giving
- By Joan Ellenbogen
- Charity, Estate
- 0 Comments
If charitable giving is important to you, consider a donor-advised fund (DAF). A DAF — typically sponsored and managed by a community foundation or commercial investment company — offers many of the benefits of a private foundation at a fraction of the cost. Upsides of a DAF A DAF allows you to make tax-deductible contributions