Attorney Bob Ross briefly explains the purpose of various estate planning tools such as Powers of Attorney for Property or Health care, and what might motivate one to draft an estate plan.
Bob has over 30 years of experience in business law and estate planning. If you would like assistance with your Illinois legal matters, please contact us.
On December 17, 2010, the president signed into law an $858 billion federal tax package. The main elements of the legislation are a two-year extension of the reductions of income, capital gains, and dividend taxes enacted during the Bush Administration and a one-year extension on unemployment insurance benefits that had ended as of December 1. Although many parts of the package are of relatively short duration, below are some highlights of the new tax law:
All drivers should be aware of the “ no-zone,” the area on the sides and rear of 18-wheelers where the truck driver cannot see a car. This dangerous area is easy to locate: If you can’t see the driver of the truck in his mirror, then he can’t see you. The no-zone is dangerous for … Read more
When you are pulling out the plastic to make a purchase, will it be debit or credit? It makes sense to know how each works, and their respective advantages and disadvantages. The bottom line is that debit cards are fine for small and/or routine purchases, but credit cards, as a rule, are better for major purchases and online transactions because they offer more protections if something goes awry.
Before James died without a will, and with an estate valued at about $12 million, he had designated his teenage goddaughter, Jessica, as the beneficiary on two payable on death (POD) accounts worth almost $4 million at his death. Jessica and her parents were then sued by James’s estate, which was seeking reimbursement for the federal and state estate taxes that were attributable to the POD accounts.
The federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) is a consumer protection law for homebuyers that is enforced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The thrust of the law is to require that loan originators make certain disclosures to borrowers so that they can be more informed consumers, entering into more transparent transactions. HUD recently wrote new regulations requiring that borrowers receive both a standard Good Faith Estimate (GFE) that discloses key loan terms and closing costs and a new “HUD-1” settlement statement.
The designation of an executor for a will is one of the critical steps in effective estate planning. The executor will be the individual responsible for the administration of the estate. He or she must execute the necessary documents to submit the will for probate. Then the executor must gather all of the testator’s (person who makes the will) assets and distribute them in accordance with the terms of the will. Good recordkeeping will be essential because an accounting will have to be filed. Creditors’ claims will have to be dealt with, and estate tax returns may have to be filed.
In short, the job of the executor is a substantial responsibility and can be very time-consuming, especially when it comes to large or complicated estates. So that a suitable candidate can be named, the testator should take into account a variety of factors. These include the trustworthiness, solid judgment, financial acumen, age, and physical and mental capacity of the proposed executor. More than one executor can be named by the testator, and these co-executers can share the duties of administering the estate.
Hurricane Katrina destroyed Merlin’s house in August of 2005 About two weeks before Katrina hit he had missed a deadline to pay a premium to keep his flood insurance policy in effect for 2005 to 2006. After Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency extended a grace period of 90 days for paying premiums to keep policies in force.
A section of the federal Internal Revenue Code authorizes estate tax deductions for qualifying interests in family-owned businesses. For the deduction to apply, the value of the interest in the business held by a person at the time of his or her death must exceed 50% of the total value of the person’s adjusted gross estate. This is known as the “50% liquidity test.”
Shortly before he left the employment of a residential treatment center for addicted persons, an employee e-mailed some of his employer’s documents to his and his wife’s personal e-mail accounts. The employee operated two consulting businesses of his own concerning addiction rehabilitation services. The employer’s documents, including its financial statement and the names of past and current patient, at the center, could have been useful to those businesses.