Residential real estate continues to be a significant asset in most estates we plan. It also continues to cause considerable issues with the estates and trusts we administer. Whether caused by poor financial planning, poor estate planning or poor execution, the result is always the same – increased family discord, frustration and expense during administration [...]
Estate Planning Update July 2023 2023 Annual Gift Tax Exclusion: increased to $17,000 per donor, per donee. 2023 Gift and Estate Tax Exemption: increased to $12,920,000 per donor through 2025, see #6, an increase of $860,000. Marital Deduction for Transfers to U.S. Spouse: remains unlimited. 2023 Generation Skipping Tax Exclusion: increased to $12,920,000 per donor [...]
At the end of the administration of a trust, the title company required the trustee to open a probate and obtain letters of personal representative before closing. This is the second matter in as many months where DeAngelis Legal has had to deal with simple mistakes that caused significant delays and additional expenses in trust [...]
Trustee of a large estate identified a small investment account that was not transferred to the decedent’s revocable trust during his lifetime (mistake #1). Unfortunately, while making a copy of his will prior to his death the decedent had mixed the pages of the original and the copy (mistake 2), so while we had the [...]
Winter deaths caused several trusts to become irrevocable and new trustees taking over. DeAngelis Legal advised the new trustees regarding their new duties and responsibilities, drafted the initial paperwork to transfer control, published notice to creditors to shorten the claims period and obtained tax identification numbers for the new trusts. All estates have avoided probate [...]
DeAngelis Legal resolved trust administration disputes between a trustee and beneficiary. Upon death, a parent set up a trust for a beneficiary naming the beneficiary’s older sibling as trustee. Over the years, the Trustee and beneficiary clashed over budgets, distributions, and reporting which adversely impacted their relationship. DeAngelis Legal advised the trustee, coordinated delivery of [...]
DeAngelis Legal obtained Letters of Personal Representative for a trustee who identified an asset that was not transferred to the trust. The deceased participated in his employer’s stock option plan. Unfortunately, the plan failed to name a beneficiary and the employer would not transfer the asset without the Letters of Personal Representative. DeAngelis Legal prepared [...]
Sometimes trust administrations are easy. DeAngelis Legal represented the beneficiary of a trust created by the beneficiary’s parents. Years of strained relations caused tension between family members, one of which was the trustee. After obtaining the documents clarifying past transactions, accounting and distribution amounts, the beneficiary signed off on the trust and received his share [...]
DeAngelis Legal created another non-judicial settlement agreement modifying the terms of an irrevocable trust. Decedent died before updating his estate plan, an all-too-common occurrence, leaving the beneficiaries of his trust to piece it together and work out the details themselves. DeAngelis Legal prepared the settlement agreement, modifying the decedent’s trust to conform with his intentions [...]
June marked the end of a four year complex trust administration odyssey. This administration could have been a television show, as it had every intrigue you can imagine - power struggles, illiquid assets, environmental claims, a defunct closely held business with unpaid claims, an injunction preventing the sale of real estate, property tax claims, third [...]
