Restructuring a Business for Asset Protection

          If you have a business, you know how hard you’ve worked to maintain it: all the late hours, countless phone calls, endless paperwork, and more. When you pass on, you’ll want to make sure that these assets you’ve worked so hard for are protected. Estate planning can help you do that.

Not only are regular assets (money, property, etc.) eligible for protection through estate planning, less conventional ones are as well. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be protected via a trust, ensuring that everything you want protected—even something outside the traditional asset realm—is kept safe and secure.

What is a Trust?

A trust is pretty simple to understand. It’s essentially a three-party fiduciary relationship. You have your trustor (you, in this case), who transfers assets to a trustee for the benefit of the third party, known as a beneficiary. This transfer grants the trustee nominal ownership over assets. These same principles of a three-party relationship apply to your business assets. The trust is treated, by the IRS, as an entity.

When you pass on, your trustee will confer your assets to the beneficiary. You may be thinking, “How is this better than a will?” Many people, when they think of estate planning, automatically jump to the last living will and testament as the golden document to have. But actually, a living trust is more advantageous.

Trust vs. Will

A trust goes into effect the moment you create it, whereas a will only becomes effective after you die. You can use a trust to start transferring your property prior to death; you cannot do that with a will, so you have a little less control. Also, a trust will get you out of probate court. If you die with just a will, you have to go through probate, which is a long, tiring process where a court distributes your assets for you. This can tie up your family for years while a court ensures the validity of the will.

Lastly, a trust can be kept private, whereas a will is on the public record. While a trust doesn’t include the ability to make funeral arrangements and name your children’s guardian if they’re minors, it does let you save on taxes and make disability arrangements.

Crypto: The New Wave

Everyone’s talking about Bitcoin these days, and everyone seems to have an opinion about it. If you’re a Bitcoin investor, or an investor in other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, and more, you’ve heard all the opinions, made up your mind, and, now, most likely just want to know how you can protect your coins via an estate plan.

As cryptocurrency jumps in popularity, more and more estate planners are encouraging clients to work their crypto into an estate plan. Cryptocurrency is, like your other assets, subject to distribution. Your crypto cannot be inherited, however, and, if you don’t include it in your estate plan, it will be as though it never existed. A trust is, as with your other assets, the best way to manage this property.

When deciding how to manage your cryptocurrency, make sure that your intended beneficiary is able to manage an entity like crypto, which is very volatile. You’ll also want to ensure that your directions are clear, including how to access your account to get the coins. This complicated, especially as cryptocurrency is relatively new, hence why an estate plan is best carried out under the guidance of a professional estate planner.

If you want to make sure that your business is protected after you pass on, a trust is the way to do it. Your assets will be protected, and you’ll be able to start the process before death, allowing you a measure of control and the ability to avoid probate.

Start Anew, Update Your Estate Plan

There’s one New Year’s resolution you should definitely make and keep: updating your estate plan. With each year comes new considerations, and your estate plan should reflect these. You might be tempted to put off your estate plan updates, but you never know what will happen. It’s better to be safe than sorry, as the old saying goes.

Here are some examples of life changes and how you may want to update your estate plan to reflect them.

New Year, New Beneficiaries

Has there been a new baby in the family? Have you recently stumbled upon a new charity to which you want to donate? In order to do so, you will need to update your estate plan. This way, after you pass on, your assets will be transferred where you want them, including to the new beneficiary.

It’s important to get started on this now and updating your estate plan to reflect the new individual. People come and go in our lives, and you don’t want to miss your opportunity to include who you want in your postmortem plans.

Rethinking Guardianship

If you have minor children, you’ve likely included a guardianship instrument in your estate plan that designates who will be the legal guardian of your kids in the event of something happening to you. If you’re still happy with the legal guardian you’ve chosen, that’s great. However, if you are not, you don’t want to wait to have that switched.

Things happen, and if you have reason to doubt the competency of the guardian you’ve chosen for your kids, you do not want to take a chance and put off updating it. Worst case scenario, something happens and your kids are left with someone who cannot take care of them. If you have doubts about your chosen guardian, make sure to update your estate plan.

Family Feuding

Similarly, there may have been other developments in your family that warrant you rethinking your estate plan. Divorce is an example. You will want to make sure that the estate plan does not include your ex-spouse (or the ex-spouse of another family member), if you do not want it to. Also, if you feel like you want to disinherit someone, that is another reason to update your estate plan.

It is best to think of the estate plan as a living document. It reflects changes in your family; it is not stagnant, nor should it be treated as such. Families have their own feuds and fighting. An estate plan needs to keep up with the dynamics, if need be.

The Imminent Arrival of the 2018 Tax Code

The 2018 tax code is bringing some new changes with it. And by “some,” we mean a lot. Two of these changes have to do with the estate and gift taxes. By 2024, there will be no estate tax. But, for now, if your estate is under $22.4 million as a married couple, you get an exemption. And, since the estate tax is often unified with the gift tax, that further extends the exemption on money you can give away. This new update is another reason you will likely want to look at your estate plan.

New year, new updates! Consult your estate planner to make sure that your plans reflect any changes in your life during the past year.

New Year, New Tax Bill

Unless you’ve been living somewhere with no internet and no cable for the past few months, you’ve probably heard about the new tax bill, which was recently passed by the Senate. It seems like everyone is debating it; and, from pundits to politicians, everyone has something to say, us included. In this article, however, we will be cutting through the vast melting pot of opinions to give you the information you need about how the tax code will affect important areas of your personal and business life.

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

The 2018 Tax Code: What’s Going On?

What is going on? That is the question on almost everyone’s mind. Well, when it comes to the estate and gift tax, the answer is: a lot.

In 2018, the estate tax is more of a concern than ever before. This tax hasn’t been talked about much until just recently, but its changes will affect many people. Here’s a rundown of how the 2018 tax code will affect your estate tax.

The Estate Tax

If you own an estate, you are probably familiar with the estate tax. The estate tax and income tax are not to be confused, as the former is paid on the transfer of assets from the decedent to heirs and beneficiaries, whereas the latter is the tax on the income that the decedent’s estate generates. Essentially, the estate tax is a tax on your right to transfer your property post-mortem.

In order to calculate this tax, the IRS takes an accounting of everything you own or have an interest in at the date you die. The tax has a high exemption amount, which means that really only the wealthiest top less-than-one-percent of Americans pay it. However, this tax is going to undergo some changes, thanks to the new bill.

First, you should know that in 2024, there will not even be an estate tax. In 2018, however, the estate tax is still live. There is an $11 million estate tax exemption per person ($22.4 million for a married couple). You may be thinking that you’re in the clear for the estate tax in 2018 if you have under that magic $22.4 million number. However, this depends on what year you die. In addition to this info, you should also know what a gift tax is, as that can further decrease the amount of taxes you pay.

The Gift Tax

The gift tax is pretty simple to understand. This tax is executed when there is a transfer of property after someone dies. This differs from the estate tax in that the transfer of property is not paid for, meaning that there is no consideration (money or something equivalent) received in exchange. It is, simply, a gift.

The gift tax exemption is often unified with the estate tax exemption. This means that you can give away up to $22.4 million in 2018 without being hit with any gift or estate tax. If the exemption grows to a larger amount, you can give more away. A piece of good news is that even if the exemption amount shrinks, you won’t lose the amount you’ve given because there is no penalty. So, the question becomes: are you taking advantage of all you can give away in 2018?

In your estate plan, you decide what to do with your assets. Consult an estate planner to make sure that you’re using these estate and gift exemptions to their full potential. There is a lot of opportunity to decrease the amount of taxes you pay, and with the upcoming tax bill, some big changes are on their way.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like…probate!” This grim twist on a classic holiday song is just what will happen if you don’t take the precautions necessary to protect your family after you have passed on. If you don’t know what probate is or if you’re not sure why it’s such a legal boogeyman, this article will help clear that up.

What is Probate?

Consider this scenario. Your close relative passes away. In the midst of the grief and dealing with funeral arrangements, you learn that she didn’t have an estate plan. Now, with all the other burdens that come with losing a loved one, you have to go to court and endure a lengthy, time-consuming process to have a judge (who doesn’t know your family) divide up your relative’s assets and even saddle you with some debt, if he or she chooses. Sounds awful, right?

It is. This process is called probate. The probate court handles estates whose dispersals have not been planned after the death of the owner. The probate court divides up assets and debts, distributing the estate in the way that it sees fit. This winding up is not always done with the best interests of your family in mind—not because of bad faith on the part of the court, but because it doesn’t know your family well enough to know exactly where everything should go.

To avoid this, you should engage in a process known as estate planning.

Estate Planning 101

Estate planning is also a process, except, in this case, it is one that will help your family. When you are planning your estate, you decide many important things, such as where your property will go, who will take care of your children, who your Power of Attorney will be if you’re incapacitated, and more.

With estate planning, among many legal devices, you set up a living will and trust, and leave health care directives for hospitals and doctors in the event you’re incapacitated and unable to make decisions for yourself at that time. Through estate planning, you are able to avoid probate court by making the decisions that are best for your family.

I have a last will and testament. Is that enough?

A common misconception is that a last will and testament is enough to keep you out of probate court. In fact, when people think of estate planning, they probably just assume it’s making a will and shoving that document in the drawer until you die. However, that’s not what estate planning entails. The process is much more detailed and safeguarded.

Your last will and testament is still subject to probate. You won’t get out of probate court that easy. Many experts look at last wills as an interim measure until your living trust and living will are set up.

A last will and testament is not enough. To make sure you are 100% in the clear, with no probate court on your horizon, set up an estate planning consultation.

Merry Christmakwanzakah: Everyone’s Included—Like Your Estate Plan Should Be

One of the best parts about the holiday season is the many, many different celebrations that take place. From Christmas to Kwanza to Hanukkah, the holidays are a time for everyone to see their family and engage in celebrations. And, while you’re with your loved ones, it’s time to think about one of the best gifts you can get them—an estate plan that includes everyone.

Sure, estate planning doesn’t sound quite as exciting as a new Xbox or a car, but, in the long run, it ends up being even more valuable (trust us). Estate planning is the process by which your assets, debts, and estate are assigned and distributed after your death.

The Toolkit

Think of your estate plan as a legal toolkit. If you open the kit, you will see many different documents, all of which pertain to a different aspect of your life. However, these tools all have the same goal: avoiding probate.

Probate court is what happens if you do not have an estate plan. The court takes charge of your estate, dividing up assets and debts and winding down the estate in a way that is time-consuming and difficult for your family. A mere last will and testament is not enough. There are many different documents in an estate plan. Listed below are a few of the main ones.

What’s in your legal toolbox?

• Power of Attorney. Your power of attorney is a trusted individual who you pick to manage your financial and healthcare decisions if you are sick or incapacitated to the point where you cannot make these decisions yourself. We all have that relative who we wouldn’t trust to babysit a rock, let alone make life-changing choices for others. By picking your POA yourself, you ensure that you are choosing someone who is competent and responsible.
• Living Will. Also known as an advance healthcare directive, a living will specifies what a person wants to have happen in the event of certain medical emergencies. This way, if you can’t tell a doctor or hospital yourself what you want, your directive will have the plan laid out for you.
• Living Trust. A trust is a three-party relationship. This relationship is of a fiduciary nature. The first party, known as a trustor, confers assets or property to a second party, the trustee, for the benefit of a third party, the beneficiary. The living trust allows for this fiduciary relationship to take place upon your death, when your trustee confers to your beneficiary the property with no probate court acting as middleman.
• 529 Plan. This 529 plan is for people who have kids who are going off to college—if not now, then in the future. The 529 allows you to set aside funds for your kid’s college funds. You may also know a 529 as a “qualified tuition plan.”
• TOD Sheets. TOD—Transfer on Death—sheets do just that: upon your death, property is transferred in the form of a deed. Morbid though the name is, this legal tool is really helpful and operable in many states.

Estate planning also needs to include everyone you want. When you schedule a consultation, make sure that you have a thorough discussion about those you want to include. Don’t forget that you can—and should—make updates and changes to your plan whenever necessary. The above legal tools are just some of what can help you wrap up your estate quickly and efficiently when the time comes.