May is a month that often makes us think about birth and renewal.  April showers bring May flowers and Mother’s Day reminds us about nurturing, springtime and babies being born.  However, with Mother’s Day behind us, we can once again focus on death.

 WERE YOU BORN?

If you answered yes, I can discern two other facts.  First, you either have a mother now or had a mother at one time in the past.  Second, you will die.

There are only two certainties in life…

Death and reality shows about hoarding.  I bet you thought I was going to say Death and Taxes but the truth is that estate taxes can be eliminated with some basic foundational estate planning techniques.  A Bypass Trust can double a married couple’s estate tax exemption amount and life insurance owned by an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust can take care of the rest, in most situations.  There are also ways to use Investment Trusts, Qualified Personal Residence Trusts, gifting and planned giving techniques for exceptionally high estates.  Fortunately for my wife, the Probate Code says nothing about how to reduce the amount of reality shows about hoarding. 

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and probate techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Pardo, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.  It’s a Wild world.  Are you protected?

With the automatic portability in 2011 and 2012, many estate planning attorneys have turned away from using Bypass Trusts for married couples.  The Bypass Trust allows for the surviving spouse to utilize the full estate tax exemption amount of the deceased spouse when distributing assets after the death of the surviving spouse.  Basically, it allows you to double the amount you can pass to your children tax-free.  Automatic portability also allows this but the portability is something brand new and may not survive past 2012, when it is currently due to expire.  If that alone isn’t enough reason to continue utilizing the Bypass Trust, it should also be pointed out that the use of automatic portability requires the filing of an estate tax return.  Even if the surviving spouse doesn’t need to pay any estate tax to the Federal Government, the cost of filing the return might still be very significant.  The non-use of the Bypass Trust is not only irresponsible but also bordering on legal malpractice.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and probate techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Pardo, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.  It’s a Wild world.  Are you protected?

So you say you have an estate plan?  When was the last time that you had it reviewed?

You should have your estate plan reviewed at least once every 3 to 5 years.  This is not only for changes in law and changes in the tax code (both which happen more often than you think) but also because your family and assets tend to change that often too.  Just think about how your family looked 5 years ago.  Are there more people in it now?  Are there less people in it now?  Have children become adults in that time?  Every 3 to 5 years the average family will see marriages, divorces, births and deaths.  Each of these occurrences should lead to an estate plan update.  Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. Are my children ready to be their own trustee if something should happen to me?

2. Is my living will valid?  (Hint: if made prior to 2006, it probably isn’t.)

3. Are all of the people I chose to act as trustee, guardian, power of attorney, health care surrogate, etc. still alive?  Still competent?  Still trustworthy?

4. Is my estate taxable this year?  How about in future years?

There are an infinite amount of questions you can ask yourself but the easier method is to contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Pardo, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation and complimentary estate plan review.  It’s a Wild world.  Are you protected?

Tonight we celebrate the first night of Passover.  For those that are unfamiliar with the story of Passover, it commemorates the time when Moses led an exodus of the Jewish people out of Egypt in search of a country with a lower estate tax and more generous inheritance laws.  Lucky for Floridians alive in the year 2011, we have no inheritance tax, no state estate tax and the ability to draft living trusts to protect our family from the Federal estate tax.  

We can also use trusts to avoid probate, provide for a special-needs child and control the use of your assets  for many many years after your death.  There are dozens of reasons why a living trust might benefit your family and one of the most popular reasons is saving your family some dough.  Unfortunately for my fellow Jewish people, dough is something that we wont be enjoying over the next 8 days, at least not the leavened kind.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and probate techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Pardo, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.  It’s a Wild world.  Are you protected?

There are a myriad of estate planning tools that can help protect your real estate assets. Warm weather states like Florida are a mecca for second homes and investment properties. Unfortunately, these occasional homes become part of a person’s taxable estate when they die.    The Qualified Personal Residential Trust (QPRT) is a unique estate planning tool that provides a solution for this concern. A QPRT is an estate planning technique which is provided for under US Treasury Regulation Section 25.2702-5(c)(2). The regulation allows for the creation of a QPRT for a primary residence and a secondary residence.

The concept behind the QPRT is less confusing than its name implies.  Simply put, the QPRT operates as follows:

• An individual transfers the title of a property to the trust (QPRT).
• The individual sets up a pre-determined amount of time to continue living in the residence.
• The owner of the home (who is now called the grantor) pays the expenses associated with the residence such as homeowners’ association fees, taxes, and expenses; however he does not pay rent.
• When the pre-determined time is over, if the grantor is still alive, he may remain in the home and pay his children rent which should reflect an amount that would be paid in a similar situation.
• If the grantor dies, the home will pass to the children either without estate taxes or with significantly reduced estate taxes based upon the appreciated value of the home.

Due to the complex tax code we all endure, it is important to discuss this option with both a trust attorney and CPA. Specifically, there is a gift tax exemption ceiling which could affect the amount of estate tax that will ultimately have to be paid by the children. However, even if the house appreciates significantly, the children will benefit from a substantially lower estate tax than they would have paid if they inherited the property through traditional means like a will. This discount occurs because the taxable value of the house is lowered due to the grantor living in the house. Therefore, this unique tool should always be considered when considering your estate plan if you happen to own a second home.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and probate techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Pardo, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.  It’s a Wild world.  Are you protected?