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Basic Planning Services
Lang, Richert & Patch offers its clients a wide variety of services in the estate planning, tax and probate arenas. On the planning side, the primary emphasis is on planning for death and incapacity as well as minimizing taxes and unneeded expenses and delay. Important concerns such as succession to family businesses, asset protection and assuring competent management and control are addressed. In addition, the firm offers planning services to clients concerned with qualifying for Medi-Cal and other benefits. Clients with younger children are often greatly concerned with both financial and personal matters. Our attorneys design guardianship nominations and trust provisions designed to achieve the client’s goals while balancing the need for supervision by the courts with costs and privacy concerns. On the other end of the spectrum, older clients who desire assistance in the management of their affairs by family members or professionals can also utilize vehicles such as durable powers of attorney and trusts. And all clients should obtain an Advance Health Care Directive to ensure their wishes for medical care are fulfilled. As a primary goal of many clients is to avoid probate, the revocable living trust is a valuable tool designed not only to avoid probate, but also to reduce costs and provide for defined management upon death or incapacity. Since the trusts are revocable, they do not impose any limitations on the client’s decision-making while they are alive and able to manage their own affairs. Should the unfortunate occur, management of the trust, through a trustee, can be transferred to a family member or trusted friend, with no court involvement and at little or no cost. Another aspect of a trust is the ability to secure assets for the next generation upon the death of the first spouse and to help eliminate any estate taxes. While clients may have heard that the federal tax law changes of 2001 may have “repealed” the estate tax, the truth of the matter is that the size of the estate subject to estate taxes has and will increase substantially over the next several years. Unfortunately, after 2010, the law is scheduled to be self-repealed, placing the public back to the levels of today. Given that the estate tax has now become a political football, intricate planning to avoid or eliminate the tax is needed now more than ever, for all experts agree further legislative changes are in the offing. As this area of the law remains complex, good legal counsel is a must for any client. Fortunately, there are a wide variety of vehicles such as a family limited partnership or irrevocable trusts that provide clients with the ability to pass on the family business, farm or other assets. A private, no cost consultation, aimed primarily at educating the client is offered here at our offices. As the firm believes in delivery of quality legal services at reasonable costs, many estate planning representations are done on a flat fee basis, allowing the client to budget and plan for their plan. In addition, the head of our practice area, Doug Griffin, is available for group presentations and seminars. Probate, Guardianships And Conservatorships
Estate-related Litigation Lang, Richert & Patch, renowned for its prowess in all areas of civil litigation, is also highly experienced in the handling of all variety of litigation matters in the context of an estate. Such disputes often go far beyond the standard will contests, including such diverse areas as property and business ownership issues, conservatorship-related claims of cohabitants, elder abuse, breaches by trustees, executors and other fiduciaries, accountings and community versus separate property issues. The firm also offers its services to mediate problems, particularly when all family members recognize their differing contentions and want to achieve an amicable and reasonable resolution. Given the firm’s wealth of background and experience, particularly in the area of taxation and litigation, these services can be of invaluable assistance. Tax-related Litigation Given practice coordinator Doug Griffin’s ten years of experience with the Internal Revenue Service before joining the firm, Lang, Richert & Patch can offer particularized assistance in the area of income, gift and estate taxation. Whether it be representation in the tax, bankruptcy or U.S. district courts, practicing in front of the I.R.S. or the Franchise Tax Board, the firm handles a wide variety of tax concerns. ESTATE TAXATION BASICS Fundamentals The I.R.S. imposes an estate and gift tax on assets given away either during one’s lifetime or at their death. The tax applies during lifetime as well as at death in order to prevent one from giving away assets shortly before death in order to avoid the estate tax. The tax is paid by the “donor” of the gift, not the recipient. All assets owned by you are subject to the tax. This includes the full value of any retirement plan (discussed below) and any life insurance death benefits, regardless to whom they are payable (a life insurance trust can eliminate this problem, as discussed below). The rate of tax graduates like income tax, except that it jumps quickly and reaches a high of 50 percent. A. Exclusions From Tax. There are three key exclusions from this tax which can be used for planning purposes.
Note that the Exemption grows over the next nine years at varying intervals and in 2010, the tax is repealed completely. Unfortunately, the way the law is presently structured, the tax comes back with the $1 million exemption in 2011. So, for now, we should plan around a $1 million exemption, or $2 million per couple. B. Planning Opportunities. There are numerous ways to reduce the estate tax at one’s death by utilizing the exclusions set out above. The most fundamental method is the use of a “Bypass Trust” which is discussed below. For married individuals with a net worth in excess of $2 million or single people in excess of $1 million, there are a variety of other more complex methods. A life insurance trust (discussed below) is one example of using gift tax annual exclusions to leverage the amount of wealth that can be passed at a minimal tax consequence. Charitable and other remainder trusts and gifting of partial interests to children using discounts are common methods. The advantage of lifetime gifts is that the gift tax is computed based on the value on the date of the gift. Thus appreciation on the gift will not be subject to estate tax on the donor’s death. For example, a couple owns a parcel of real property worth $150,000 today. If the property is gifted to the children now, the couple could utilize $150,000 of their Exemptions and/or their annual gift tax exclusion to pay no tax on the transfer. If the couple live another 15 years and the property were to appreciate to $250,000, the $100,000 in appreciation would not be subject to any tax since the property was unowned by the couple during the time the property went up in value. Click here for additional Estate & Tax Planning Information and Tools provided by Lang, Richert & Patch |
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