Estate Archives - Crawford Ellenbogen

Aug 11, 2020

Zeros and ones: Estate planning for your digital assets and accounts

By Joan Ellenbogen
Estate
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Nearly everyone owns at least some digital assets, such as online bank and brokerage accounts, bill-paying services, cloud-based document storage, digital music collections, social media accounts, and domain names. But what happens to these assets when you die or if you become incapacitated? The answer depends on several factors, including the terms of your service

Jul 29, 2020

A win-win proposition: A CRT can benefit you and your favorite charity

By Joan Ellenbogen
Estate, Uncategorized
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A charitable remainder trust (CRT) can convert assets into a stream of lifetime income, provide a current tax deduction and leave the remainder to your favorite charity. Typically, a CRT is funded with income-producing assets, such as real estate and securities. These assets may be supplemented by cash deposits. When you transfer assets to the

Jul 23, 2020

Avoid pitfalls when splitting gifts with your spouse

By Joan Ellenbogen
Estate
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The annual gift tax exclusion allows you to transfer up to $15,000 per beneficiary gift-tax-free for 2020, without tapping your lifetime gift and estate tax exemption. And you can double the exclusion to $30,000 per beneficiary if you elect to split the gifts with your spouse. It’s important to understand the rules surrounding gift-splitting to

Jul 8, 2020

Business succession and estate planning: It can be complicated

By Victor Dozzi
Estate
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Transferring a family business to the next generation requires a delicate balancing act. Estate and succession planning strategies aren’t always compatible, and family members often have conflicting interests. By starting early and planning carefully, however, it’s possible to resolve these conflicts and transfer the business in a tax-efficient manner. Ownership vs. management succession One reason

Jul 2, 2020

Concealing a trust could run afoul of state law

By Victor Dozzi
Estate
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If your estate plan includes trusts, you may want to keep them a secret from the beneficiaries, such as your children. But, don’t run afoul of state law, which may require trustees to disclose information to beneficiaries. For example, the Uniform Trust Code adopted by many states requires a trustee to provide trust details to

Jun 9, 2020

Build flexibility into your estate plan with powers of appointment

By Victor Dozzi
Estate
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There are several tools to build flexibility into your estate plan. One tool is a power of appointment. It’s simply a provision in your estate plan that permits another person, such as a beneficiary, to determine how, when and to whom certain assets in your estate or trust will be distributed. The person who receives

May 19, 2020

Multi-generational family take a walk in the park

Now may be the time to forgive intrafamily loans

By Victor Dozzi
Estate
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An intrafamily loan may be an attractive estate planning tool if you’ve already used up your gift and estate tax exemption or if you wish to save it for future transfers. But if you have exemption to spare, forgiving an intrafamily loan allows you to transfer the entire loan principal plus any accrued interest tax-free,

Apr 30, 2020