Trust Administration Administrating a trust post-death should be as easy as your successor trustee accepting the responsibility for the trust, taking control of the assets, satisfying creditors and following the trust’s distribution provisions. Unfortunately, we are seeing longer administration times, most of which could have been greatly reduced with minimal upfront planning. Recent examples we [...]
SECURE Act Impact on Trusts While we were focused on the impeachment hearings, Congress and the President were busy passing the SECURE Act. The Act was signed into law on December 20, 2019 and is effective January 1, 2020. In addition to funding federal agencies through September, the SECURE Act impacts trusts by reducing the [...]
After the confidentiality agreement, the Letter of Intent is the next step in the sale of a business and is intended to be a non-binding document which outlines the material deal points of the transaction. Sellers want to know what the material terms of the offer are, and Buyers want to know that their [...]
Rebecca "Bekki" Bottjen (pictured above with her wonderful family) celebrated her fifth year with DeAngelis Legal this spring. Bekki is an integral part of the team as she has touched more than 18,000 documents in those years. Yes, we push a lot of paper. As a certified paralegal, Bekki enjoys the challenge of sorting out the details [...]
Like poppies blooming in the desert after a wet winter, limited liability companies (LLCs) are everywhere and Arizona’s new LLC Act affects all of them as well as their owners and managers. Arizona’s new LLC Act is based on the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act (RULLCA) endorsed by the Uniform Laws Commission. The new [...]
“I recommend you dispose of anything that does not fall into one of three categories: currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, or must be kept indefinitely.”― Marie Kondo, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing”* Ms. Kondo offers great advice in the above book for discarding [...]
Estate Planning Update January, 2019 2019 Annual Gift Tax Exclusion: remains at $15,000 per donor, per donee. 2019 Gift and Estate Tax Exclusion: $11,400,000 per donor through 2025, see #6 below. Marital Deduction for Transfers to U.S. Spouse: unlimited. 2019 Generation Skipping Tax Exclusion: $11,400,000 per donor through 2025, see #6 below. Top rate for [...]
Choice of Entity The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed in December of 2017 reduced the income tax rate on corporations and pass through entities. The Act, coupled with an increase in business activity in Arizona, has created a lot of questions about the appropriate choice of entity, i.e., what is the best type of [...]
Legal Implications of Community Property While love may be in the air in the spring, October is the most popular month to get married. With the excitement of the engagement and all the planning for the wedding, travel and gifts, few couples spend the time to reflect on how their financial rights and obligations will [...]
Estate Planning Update July, 2018 2018 Annual Gift Tax Exemption: increased to $15,000 (from $14,000) per donor, per donee. 2018 Gift and Estate Tax Exemption: $11,180,000 per donor through 2025, see below. Marital Deduction for Transfers to U.S. Spouse: unlimited. 2018 Generation Skipping Tax Exemption: $11,180,000 per donor through 2025, see below. Top rate for [...]
