I often speak to groups on the topic of estate planning. (If you want me to speak to your group, please contact us!) When I do, I always talk about how best to protect kids in the event the worst happens and the parents both die. You see, if children are too young or too immature to do something sensible with an inheritance, I usually recommend that the inheritance should be held in trust. Inevitably, someone will say, "I named my parents as the beneficiaries on all my accounts. They ...
Do I Still Need A Trust?
It used to be very common for estate plans to include a two-part trust scheme, often called an AB trust, designed to avoid or minimize estate taxes. In 2012, Congress finally passed “permanent” estate tax legislation, with the estate tax exemption set at $5,000,000 per person adjusted for inflation. In other words, married couples who have less than $10,000,000 in assets no longer face serious estate taxation concerns. It might be tempting to think that the once-common trust is now a relic ...
Idaho Has A Plan For Your Money
The next estate planning myth I want to address is the belief that, if you die without a will in place, the state will get your money. Idaho (as with all states) has a series of laws that control who gets what in the event you die without a will, called the laws of “intestate succession.”These laws govern what happens to your “estate,” the legal term for a part of what you owned when you died. Not everything that you owned becomes a part of your estate. Typically, life insurance proceeds ...
I Want Fifty-Fifty!
In dealing with child custody questions, lots of people say they want “fifty-fifty,” without really knowing what that might mean for them or their children. People usually mean they want to alternate days or weeks in some fashion, figuring that they will split their kids in the same way they divide property. It doesn’t really work like that in Idaho. The standard for a court in determining child custody issues is deceptively simple: the court may order whatever seems “necessary or ...
