Ohio Chimes In that Trust Assets are Protected from Property Division in a Divorce, Even When the Divorcing Beneficiary, as the Sole Trustee, Can Make Distributions to Himself

September 27, 2017

The trial court in Ohio, and the appellate court, both agreed after some well-thought out analysis, that a beneficiary’s interest in a third-party trust set up by his father was not marital property, and therefore not subject to division in that beneficiary’s divorce. Continue reading

Once Again, If Charging Order Protection Closes the Door to Asset Access by the Creditors, the Courts May Open Another Door

September 20, 2017

The use of a limited liability company can provide what is known as charging order protection against creditors of individual members who have assets inside the LLC. Continue reading

Asset Protection Aspects of a Trust Pierced by IRS

September 13, 2017

The IRS has successfully pierced the asset protection aspects of a trust that was set up in New Jersey. In the past, I have published some accounts of other situations in which the federal government was able to treat assets in a trust as being property of its beneficiary because the trust agreement described a specific purpose for the trust. Continue reading

Filing 2016 Gift Tax Returns—Is there a Need to Disclose Noncompliance with Proposed Treasury Regulations Under Code Section 2704 with respect to Discounted Valuation Gifts?

September 8, 2017
President Trump issued in April Executive Order 13789 to identify which regulations: (i) are unduly complex, (ii) impose undue financial burdens on taxpayers, or (iii) exceed the IRS’s statutory authority. Continue reading

Estate Planning For the Newly Married

September 7, 2017

Now is the perfect time to start working on an estate plan—because, as newlyweds, you may not have a list of your accounts, but you’ve effectively just done a working inventory of your possessions—as you’ve figured out how to consolidate two households into one. You’ve already been working on the new banking and shared responsibility of bills and taxes and so forth. Continue reading