Hear ye, all marrieds, to-be-marrieds, those facing first marriages, subsequent marriages, adult children with remarried parents, et al. Separating “marital assets” into “separate assets” can be like trying to undo chocolate milk. Pour chocolate syrup into milk to get chocolate milk; that’s easy. But afterward, try to separate them back to syrup and milk? Good […]
Hear ye, all marrieds, to-be-marrieds, those facing first marriages, subsequent marriages, adult children with remarried parents, et al. Separating “marital assets” into “separate assets” can be like trying to undo chocolate milk. Pour chocolate syrup into milk to get chocolate milk; that’s easy. But afterward, try to separate them back to syrup and milk? Good […]
You don’t pay the max income tax each April 15th. So why pay unnecessary taxes to IRS when you’re dead? That’s effectively what happens with: “simple” wills, revocable or living trusts, and computer-generated legal papers or copied forms, which omit the tax tools available for your particular assets. And that’s why IRS loves simple estate […]
Two for the price of one is irresistible. The proverbial “Buy One, Get One Free” (compressed these days into the acronym “BOGO”) is a pretty good deal: buy the 2-liter bottle, get a second one at no cost. Some people figure that idea applies to legal documents, too: “If I don’t have to get two […]
Chutes and Ladders comes to mind when you’re trying to figure out how much you must take out of your IRAs, etc. at age 70½ and after. If you land here, you slide to there and take that much out. If you get here, you go down the chute to there and take something else. […]
One morning, farmer Cecil George Jones told his wife that he was going to work with his tractor on some land away from their house, and he’d be home by 10pm. When he wasn’t, she went looking for him. It was raining when she found him lying on the ground. He was still alive, but […]
Over 70 ½? Once again you can deflect up to $100,000 to a charity, without paying tax on those dollars first. The charitable rollover can also be part of any Required Minimum Distribution you have to take. The President signed the new tax act on Friday, and it resurrects this charitable move. Call us or […]
When waves of medical professionals are trying to help diagnose or treat a tough condition, it’s easy for the patient to become a puzzle, an experiment, an object. So who’s best to judge what’s best for the patient, especially when he or she can’t communicate? The patient, the spouse, the children . . . who […]
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No, not the bird in the oven, soon to be on the table. You, turkey. Or really, your parent or your adult child is the turkey if they won’t fill out this questionnaire. But there’s more fowl play: not pushing them to share this information makes you an ostrich, head in the sand, ignoring the […]