As a basic matter, creditors of a trust beneficiary generally do not have access to assets of the trust.[1] The primary exception is that creditors generally can access trust assets distributable to the settlor of the trust, such a trust being considered “self-settled.”[2] Many states have abolished this exception for trusts that satisfy certain statutory…
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On July 1, 2020, the new Mississippi Uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act went into effect under Sections 33-46 of S.B. 2851, replacing the old Uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act under Title 27 Chapter 10 of the Mississippi Code. What does apportionment of estate taxes mean anyway? Apportionment of estate taxes is the determination and allocation…
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The Mississippi Legislature made some sweeping changes to Mississippi laws governing estates and trusts, as well as one significant change to real property law. With the passage of S.B. 2850 and S.B. 2851, Mississippi is set to get some much needed updates in these areas of law. Both bills were signed by the governor and…
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Due to historically low rates combined with potentially depressed asset values due to the recent market decline, now may present an unparalleled opportunity to take advantage of wealth transfer techniques to shift significant wealth downstream with little to no use of gift tax exemption. As I write the article, the United States and the rest of…
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There was a lot of movement from the IRS involving cryptocurrencies in 2019. Prior to 2019, the IRS had issued just one piece of guidance regarding cryptocurrencies. That was by issuance of Notice 2014-21 in which the IRS let us know it would treat cryptocurrencies as capital assets rather than as a currency. There are…
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I was fortunate enough to attend the 54th annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning in Orlando. Heckerling is known worldwide for being one of the most innovative and informative estate planning conferences put on. The topics are always relevant and timely, and there are always some new and innovative planning techniques and ideas presented. Additionally,…
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On December 20, 2019, President Donald Trump signed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement (Secure) Act into law as part of the year-end spending bill. The Secure Act (the “Act”) goes into effect on January 1, 2020 and makes a host of changes to retirement plan laws. Among these changes are significant changes to…
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The income taxation of life insurance death benefits seems fairly simple initially. Many people know the general rule that death benefits are not subject to income tax. However, there are exceptions that can apply which will cause the beneficiary to owe income tax on the receipt of death benefits. This article describes certain of these…
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Parents are often in a position to help their children take advantage of business opportunities. A parent’s connections, business knowledge, expertise, and other intangibles acquired over may years of work can be used to benefit a child starting a career or business. Likewise, a parent may advance funds to a child to start or acquire…
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The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) enacted some sweeping changes to our nation’s tax laws. One major change was the modification of Section 2010 to increase in the individual estate tax exemption from $5M, indexed for inflation ($5.49M in 2017), to $10M, indexed for inflation ($11.2M in 2018, 11.4M in 2019). Thus couples went…
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