Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog

CLE on Medicaid Lookback Rules and Planning

The National Business Institute is holding a conference entitled, Medicaid Lookback Rules and Planning, which will take place on Monday, May 07, 2018 at The Cornhusker in Lincoln, NE. Provided below is a description of the event:

Program Description

Make Certain Your Clients' Long Term Care Needs Are Met

The requirements for Medicaid eligibility are strict, and protective planning is tricky. How does your understanding of Medicaid planning stack up? Join us at this focused seminar to get the answers you need about this complex area of practice. Register today!

• Determine which assets are countable and how they can be converted.
• Learn what the income eligibility requirements are.
• Establish exactly what limitations are placed on asset transfers.
• Protect your clients' interests by knowing what's exempt and what's not.
• Deepen your knowledge of transfer penalty provisions.
• Learn to effectively use trusts to plan for Medicaid without interfering with the overall estate plan.

Who Should Attend

This intermediate level program addresses key questions involved in elder planning and is designed for attorneys. It will also benefit accountants, estate and financial planners, life care planners, and paralegals.

Course Content

1. The Lookback Period and Qualifying Asset Transfers Rule
2. Asset Conversion From Non-Exempt to Exempt
3. Irrevocable Trusts in Medicaid Planning
4. Legal Ethics
5. Penalty Period for Improper Transfers

Continuing Education Credit

Continuing Legal Education – CLE: 6.00 *

Financial Planners – Financial Planners: 7.00

National Association of State Boards of Accountancy – CPE for Accountants/NASBA: 7.00 *

* denotes specialty credits

Update Estate Plans in Light of New Tax Law

The federal estate-tax exemption doubled to over $11 million this year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the exemption shouldn’t alter your estate plan. Unedited or stale wills may be configured according to older laws and regulation which could inadvertently overlook intended beneficiaries. The idea that the estate-tax exemption increase lessens the need for many people to pursue estate planning is misplaced; it could cause you to pay more in income tax, improperly manage trusts, or cause loved ones receiving your assets to miss out on tax breaks.

It’s always a good idea to regularly spruce up an estate plan as families – and life – are always evolving.

See Eleanor Laise, Update Estate Plans in Light of New Tax Law, Kiplinger, April 28, 2018.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.

How to Protect Your Family Beyond Death — Without Losing Your Shirt

Online legal resources have created several ways to make simpler estate plans though often without a personal touch or attention to detail. Many clients’ needs may not be as complex as others, so $150 packages from Legal Zoom could satisfy their basic requirements. Others with family business, assets that need to be protected by trusts, and a desire to circumvent probate will require a more experienced attorney or a team of other professionals that can craft a product to satisfy every realm of possibility and need.

See Darla Mercado, How to Protect Your Family Beyond Death — Without Losing Your Shirt, CNBC, April 26, 2018.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.

IRS Details New Reporting Requirements for Life Insurance

The Internal Revenue Service detailed new information reporting requirements relating to some life insurance contracts under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts. Reportable death benefits paid as well as reportable policy sales after December 31, 2017 will be subject to the new guidelines. The final regulations of the reporting requirements have not been released yet so insurance companies as well as policy purchasers have the benefit of extra time to satisfy the obligations. The public may comment on the proposed regulation to implement the new reporting requirements in Notice-2018-41.

See Michael Cohn, IRS Details New Reporting Requirements for Life Insurance, Accounting Today, April 26, 2018.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.

Article on Inheritance on the Fringes of Marriage

Adam J. Hirsch recently published an Article entitled, Inheritance on the Fringes of Marriage, 2018 U. Ill. L. Rev. 235-279 (2018). Provided below is an abstract of the Article:

This Article explores the inheritance rights of individuals situated at the fringes of marital relationships--fiancés, spouses who are in the process of divorcing, and permanently separated spouses. The Article examines whether these categories of individuals ought to enjoy rights to forced shares of an estate comparable to those that ordinary spouses can claim by assaying the rationales for a forced share in relation to these fringe categories. The Article also considers whether lawmakers should infer that the typical decedent would wish to provide at death for individuals falling into these categories. The Article conducts the first-ever empirical study of this question by recourse to an internet survey of fiancés, spouses in the midst of divorcing, and permanently separated spouses. The Article proposes changes in intestacy law, the law of implied bequests, and implied revocation of bequests on the basis of this survey. Finally, the Article seeks to locate the issue of fringe categories of beneficiaries within the broader context of relationship theory.

 

CLE on Probate Hands-On! - An Interactive Workshop

The National Business Institute is holding a two-day conference entitled, Probate Hands-On! - An Interactive Workshop, which will begin on Monday, May 07, 2018 at the Capital Conference Center in Indianapolis, IN. Provided below is a description of the event:

Program Description

Practical Approach to the Probate Process

Answer the top questions about the probate process and the key tasks and decision-making involved with this hands-on primer. Experienced faculty will guide you through the series of scenarios and exercises so that you come away fully prepared to tackle key probate tasks. Register today!

• Get the probate process and procedure clarified.
• Get effective tips for proving the validity of the will.
• Review procedures for locating and marshalling assets, with sample valuation scenarios.
• Learn how to handle tax return forms procedures and questions through exercises and case studies.
• Review an example of a contested Medicaid recovery claim to learn how to best defend each estate.
• Learn what situations present the greatest danger of crossing the ethical line and find solutions together.

Who Should Attend

This basic-to-intermediate level program is designed for Attorneys. It may also be of value to Accountants, Tax Advisers, Estate Planners, Trust Officers and Paralegals.

Course Content

Day 1

1. Probate Process and Procedure - Clarified
2. Ensuring Executors Know Their Duties - Case Studies
3. Wills: Proving Validity, Petitioning and Top Problems
4. Assets: How to Inventory, Locate, Secure, Value and Manage - With Case Studies
5. Medicaid Estate Recovery and Exceptions - Case Studies

Day 2

7. Ethical Considerations in Probate - In Case Studies
8. Creditor Claim Conundrums
9. Final Accounting: Everything You Need to Know - Sample Accounting Review and Questions
10. Tax Deadlines, Preparation, Coordination, Filing Returns
11. Handling Distributions and Closing the Estate Without a Hitch - Common Scenarios

Continuing Education Credit

Continuing Legal Education – CLE: 13.30 *

National Association of State Boards of Accountancy – CPE for Accountants/NASBA: 16.00 *

* denotes specialty credits

7 Common Estate Planning Disasters and How to Avoid Them

Baby boomers are now aging in a tax era that is favorable to transferring wealth to loved ones of younger generations. The recent increase in the estate and gift tax exemptions thresholds, along with expanding wealth, work to create an atmosphere conducive to transferring extensive assets after death. But many people believe that because of this amicable atmosphere, the process of passing along their estate is now so simple that they are able to take care of their estate planning on their own. However, due to longer lifespans, higher incidences of multiple marriages, and blended families, the process of creating an estate plan that satisfies all of your needs may be more complicated than originally thought.

See Michael Feinfeld, 7 Common Estate Planning Disasters and How to Avoid Them, Market Watch, April 26. 2018.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.

How Senior Daddies — Like Donald Trump — Are Eligible for a Social Security Bonus

President Donald Trump is eligible for around $15,000 in extra Social Security benefits each year because of his son, 11-year-old Barron Trump. Under Social Security rules, individuals who are old enough to claim retirement benefits but who have children under 18 can receive this supplementary income, even if they are ultra-affluent. This Late-in-Life Baby Bonus goes to approximately 1.1% of Social Security retirees at an estimated cost of $5.5 billion per year. Though this represents a small fraction of the system’s nearly $1 trillion annual outlay, it is an indicator of a very real need for reform.

See Allan Sloan & C. Eugene Steuerle, How Senior Daddies — Like Donald Trump — Are Eligible for a Social Security Bonus, ProPublica, March 2, 2018.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.

CLE on Trusts 101

The National Business Institute is holding a conference entitled, Trusts 101, which will take place on Friday, May 04, 2018 at the South Beach Biloxi Hotel & Suites in Biloxi, MS. Provided below is a description of the event:

Program Description

Provide your clients with the full spectrum of wealth preservation options.

When assessing complex information, it often helps to break items into basic building blocks. The same approach can be successful when dealing with asset protection. Be prepared for specific challenges associated with various types of trusts by understanding their unique characteristics. Our intensive full-day primer will provide you with a comprehensive overview of the wide variety of trusts available. Register today!

• Determine what role the settlor will play by weighing the pros and cons of establishing an irrevocable trust over a revocable trust.
• Learn what not to do when selecting and drafting a revocable trust to avoid common mistakes.
• Learn how to choose the most beneficial vehicle for preserving your client's wealth: understand the purpose behind the various types of irrevocable trusts.
• Explore the powers and duties of personal representatives in irrevocable trusts.
• Save money on taxes with effective use of defective trusts.
• Learn why it's important to know when to file the tax return for grantor trusts.
• Determine whether a client qualifies as a beneficiary of a special needs trust.
• Don't reinvent the wheel - modify our sample trust documents and use our drafting tips to create airtight trusts.

Who Should Attend

This basic level seminar is designed for the professionals involved in creating, administering and terminating trusts:

• Attorneys
• Accountants and CPAs
• Trust Officers
• Financial Planners
• Tax Professionals
• Paralegals

Course Content

1. Where to Begin? - An Overview of Trusts
2. Revocable Living Trusts
3. Trusts Used for Tax Reduction
4. Ethical Considerations
5. Grantor Trusts
6. Estate Planning for the Disabled

Continuing Education Credit

Continuing Legal Education – CLE: 6.70 *

Financial Planners – Financial Planners: 8.00

International Association for Continuing Education Training – IACET: 0.70

National Association of Legal Assistants, Inc. – NALA: 6.50 *

National Association of State Boards of Accountancy – CPE for Accountants/NASBA: 8.00 *

National Federation of Paralegal Associations, Inc. – NFPA

Professional Achievement in Continuing Education – PACE: 8.00 *

* denotes specialty credits

Article on Section 4968 and Taxing All Charitable Endowments: A Critique and Proposal

Edward A. Zelinsky published an Article entitled, Section 4968 and Taxing All Charitable Endowments: A Critique and Proposal, Tax Law & Policy eJournals (2018). Provided below is an abstract of the Article:

Section 4968, recently added to the Internal Revenue Code, imposes a tax on the investment incomes of some college and university endowments. Critics of Section 4968 disparage this new tax as selectively targeting what are widely perceived as wealthy, politically liberal institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, M.I.T. and Stanford.

There is a strong tax policy argument for taxing the net investment incomes of all charitable endowments including donor-advised funds, community foundations, all educational endowments,and foundations supporting hospitals, museums and other eleemosynary institutions. Like corporations and private foundations that currently pay revenue-generating income taxes,charitable endowments use public services and have capacity to pay tax. Such traditional tax policy criteria as equity and economic neutrality counsel that similar entities and persons should be taxed similarly. Just as corporations and private foundations pay income taxes to support federally-provided social overhead, by analogy, all charitable endowments, as similar entities, should pay similar taxes as well.

Section 4968 falls far short of the goal of a comprehensive,revenue-generating tax on the universe of charitable endowments.Section 4968 is poorly designed to boot. Most anomalously,Section 4968 taxes some relatively small educational endowments while leaving other, much larger endowments untaxed.

Important voices (most prominently, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell) defend Section 4968 as a regulation of university tuition policies. However, this defense of Section4968 as a regulatory tax fails since Section 4968 does not regulate tuition or anything else. When it crafted Section 4968,Congress had before it the examples of the Code’s many taxes governing private foundations and other eleemosynary institutions. Had Congress sought to impose on college and university endowments a regulatory tax along these lines, it could have emulated these examples in the design of Section 4968.Congress did not.

Section 4968 is best defended in political terms as an incremental step towards the kind of comprehensive tax on all charitable endowments suggested by conventional tax policy criteria. But, standing on its own, Section 4968 falls well short of this goal and is deeply flawed in its design.
Section 4968 does not create a broad-based tax on eleemosynary endowments. It should be the harbinger of one.