If you have children between the ages of 18 and thirty, chances are that they don’t have a will. And, there are many reasons why that might be a bad idea. For example, many of our adult children have children of their own but have not done a will to name a guardian, executor and trustee to care for those children, or their finances. In addition, if you have left a child or your children assets outright (and not in trust) then that child’s will may control what happens to those assets rather than your own will. For more information on when, why, and how to get your adult children to do a will, trust, or power of attorney, visit out new article on Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts for Children at http://www.PaEstatePlanners.com.
For more information on scheduling a family will clinic to update your own planning and to get your children to complete or update their planning call 610-933-8069 and mention the offer code: FAMILY WILL REVIEW to qualify for a free review.
Attorney David M. Frees III - Protecting Yourself and Your Family- A Will Review
David Frees is Chairman of the Unruh, Turner, Burke and Frees Trust Estate and Wealth Preservation Section
David and the firm maintain law offices in Malvern, Phoenixville, and West Chester Pennsylvania which serve
the Main Line, and many surrounding communities such as Devon, Exton, West Chester, Ardmore and others.
When Do I Show My Estate Planning Documents To My Family? By: David M. Frees III
The question of when, or even whether or not, to show adult or mature children your will or estate planning documents has no easy answer.
The best answer is that it depends.
In this, and a series of brief up coming posts, we’ll explore that question and the pros and cons of each option. In my experience (over 25 years of drafting estate planning documents for families and advising families at all levels of affluence), the answer varies depending on your personal circumstances and the particular documents. My answer, for example about when and how to share a broad durable power of attorney may be different than my answer about sharing and discussing a living will and medical power of attorney.
We will examine when to share the will, when to give an agent a copy of a medical or durable power of attorney, and when to share trusts and other documents.
Today we start with your question about when to share a will with family members.
In the case of wills, many clients never share the particulars of the will. They realize, that this document may change trough time and that who gets what assets may also change. Since no one really needs to see the document before your death, it may be enough to make sure that the family knows how to get your original will if you pass away. If you have only one or two children, and they are both appointed as co-executors, sharing that fact with them may also be prudent.
My clients who do not share the specifics of their wills, or copies of the documents, usually have a memo, or a binder. This documents contains copis of the necessary documents (in case of emergency) as well as instructions, locations or originals, passwords, and related information such as who the accountants, lawyers, insurance and financial advisers are and how to contact them.
More on these issues to come.
David M. Frees III is a lawyer with over 24 years of advising clients in the areas of trusts, estates, estate planning, and related legal matters. He has law offices in Malvern, Phoenixville, and West Chester and serves clients throughout Pennsylvania including Exton, Devon, Wayne, Chester Springs, Ardmore, Berwyn and many surrounding communities.
For a complimentary consultation call 610-933-8069 and mention PAESTATEPLANNERS as the code for your free consult.
Frees has received AVVO's highest ranking of 10.0 Superb
David M. Frees III, Esquire on The Ten Year GRAT
The Houses Passes A New 10 Year GRAT Requirement
On June 15th, the US House passed H.R. 5486 (a “jobs bill”) that contained a requirement that GRATS (Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts) be for a term of at least 10 years.
As readers know, we have been promoting and using GRATs for many clients as a way or moving large increases in wealth without triggering significant gift taxes.
GRATs are often used by clients with rapidly rising stock values, real estate, or other assets with a high probability of significant growth.
The government now views this technique as being just too good for the tax payer and is attempting to restrict it’s use to raise additional revenue.
The main purpose of H.R. 5486 is not, of course, to modify the GRAT rules. It is instead intended to create small business tax relief.
However, as mentioned, GRATs have proven to be a highly efficient technique for transferring wealth while minimizing gift taxes, provided that the grantor survives the GRAT term and the trust assets do not depreciate in value. And, taxpayers have become skilled at maximizing the benefit of this technique, by minimizing the term of the GRAT (thus reducing the risk of the grantor’s death during the GRAT term). Many clients use a term as short as two years.
Under the current bill, now also before the Senate, the minimum term would be ten years. This, of course increases the risk that the grantor might die during the term and the benefit to the family would be lost.
So, while the GRAT will remain a valuable planning tool. The days of the short term GRAT might be limited. If you find yourself moving toward a public offering, a land development plan or some other planning that might produce large value increases, be sure to consult your legal and tax advisers about all of your options in the face of this pending legislation and the appearance that it will pass both houses.
David Frees III, Esquire
David Frees writes on GRATs and other sophisticated estate planning techniques and actively helps affluent families and individuals in Pennsylvania to implement sophisticated estate and estate tax planning.
For more information on GRATs and related estate and asset protection planning call 610-933-8069. Law offices in Phoenixville, Malvern, and West Chester Pennsylvania.
By: David M Frees III One of the best planning techniques for those with estates of 1 million dollars or more, and especially those with appreciating assets, Short term GRATs, might be a thing of the past soon. House Bill 4849 just passed the US house of representatives on March 24th and would make the minimum term for Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts a minimum of ten years. However, short term GRATs are one of the most powerful and effective estate planning techniques currently available for American Families.
So, if this bill, or a similar bill passes the Senate, a very powerful technique for moving assets from one generation to another without estate or gift taxes will be lost to the American tax payer and to all Pennsylvania residents doing federal estate tax planning.
If you’re interested in GRATs, just search our site for the many articles and information that we have published on this topic. But, as a brief review, GRATs allow you to move a higly appreciating asset out of your estate without paying gift taxes. However, if you die during the GRAT term (which currently can be as little as two years) the assets come back into your estate and get taxed at their current value.
Congress believes that this technique is so effective for tax payers, that if they eliminate short term GRATs, that it could result in significant revenue generation through higher estate taxes.
According to a group called Citizens for Tax Justice, this provision of the bill would raise an estimated $4.5 billion in 10 years…” This group is a lobbying organization that describes its mission as “requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share.”
So, be aware that 2010 may be the last year for the short term GRAT.
If you need assistance in setting up a GRAT, or want to know more about the many advantages of a short term GRAT before they are eliminated by Congress, please feel free to visit this site or to call David M. Frees III at 610-933-8069 or by email at dfrees@utbf.com. For a free book on GRAT techniques, from Bernstein’s research group, click here.
For a free telephone consultation or appointment for estate planning including GRATs call Donna, Denise or Beth to set up the appointment and mention offer code: GRAT
David Frees and Unruh, Turner, Burke and Frees maintain law offices in Malvern, Phoenixville, and West Chester Pennsylvania and serve many surrounding communities including Wayne, Devon, Berwyn, Radnor, Exton, Chester Springs, and others.
For a consultation to make sure that your estate planning documents are up to date, and coordinated with your 529 plans, call 610-933-8069. Mention this article to receive a valuable resource, our Enhanced Estate Planning CD.
Frees whose practice is limited to trusts, wills, estates, probate, asset protection, and estate planning helps families and individuals to create effective estate tax, asset protection, and business succession plans.
Frees has received AVVO's highest ranking of 10.0 Superb
However, Frees notes that “The firm has lawyers that work in many different areas so that our clients’ needs ranging from personal matters such as estate planning, personal injury and related matters are well protected and served by the firm. And, many other firm practice areas help clients in their business, real estate, and related commercial matters.”
“I am honored to receive AVVO’s highest professional rating. AVVO is one of the premier lawyer search and referral sites on the internet and rates lawyers on a variety of factors. I regularly publish legal guidelines and answer estate planning, will, trust, and probate questions for AVVO users and I believe that it is a powerful tool for consumers.”
Thanks to everyone, including my partners and associates, my support staff, and the other lawyers and clients who have helped me to achieve this honor. I have a great team of people that I work with and great clients that we serve.”
Frees’ offices provide trust, estate, and estate planning services to the entire Philadelphia region, including but not limited to Chester and Montgomery Counties, Berks, Bucks and Lancaster Counties and many communities such as Ardmore, Devon, Berwyn, Paoli, Malvern, Willistown Township, Charlestown Township, East Pikeland, Schuylkill Township, and Doylestown
Attorney David Frees explores how and why you might want to give the gift of a custom domain name to your children and/or grandchildren.
Want to buy your child or grandchild something that may never go out of style, might be vitally important to them in business as they grow up, and is becoming harder and harder to get?
Want to do something for a loved one that not only shows that you care but that might be useful for their entire life?
Want to know the three letters that matter and that might make you a hero to your kids and grandchildren?
The three letters are URL.
URL – That is the web address for a web site that they might use now or in the future for personal or business use. Do you have your name as a domain? Do you own www.insertyournameshere.com for your children and/or grandchildren?
If not, just click on that link and you can find out if your name, your child’s name, and/or a grandchild’s name is still available and if it is you can reserve it and own it for less than $10.00 per year. We have made an arrangement with one of the major web registrars through www.succcessfulurls.com for clients to get a radically reduced cost for registering their names as urls. But, there are many other web sites that also offer this service.
And, it is easy to transfer the web name to your child or grandchild, and easy to set up a simple web site (the kids can do it) so that they can even own the email address theirname@theirname.com for example, John@johnsmith.com rather than john127@aol.com.
Now it is becoming harder and harder to find common names that haven’t been taken. But, it is nice and in some professions (think web designer) to have your own name as your url.
But, while it is becoming harder and harder for children and grandchildren to own their own names many of your children and grandchildren might want that ability. So, if their name is taken how can you still give this gift? well, there are a few tricks.
So, here’s to hoping that you can find one that works. And, even if you have a new baby, or new grandchild, consider reserving that url. It is inexpensive, fun and may be a really nice present.
Have a great holiday season.
David M. Frees III
David Frees advises clients on estate planning maters related to copyrights,
technology, business succession planning, real estate and other assets which
require careful estate planning. For a consultation, call 610-933-8069.
In summary, this bill will make the exemption of 3.5 million dollars permanent and would not allow for carry over of the spouses exemption. This means that careful planning will still be be necessary for married couples for the foreseeable future and it will mean tax for many families (at a forty-five percent rate (45%).
This bill appears to be less favorable than the bill we discussed last week HB 3905. As you may recall from our blog post, HB 3905 would raise the exemption amount, reduce the tax rate, and increase the exemption through time to five million and then index it for inflation.
In any case, we are actively watching both bills and will keep you posted as they may have an effect on your estate planning.
Call Donna or Denise at 610-933-8069 for a telephone or in person
consultation for estate planning, asset protection planning, trusts,
wills, or estate matters. Elder law consults are also available if you
or a loved one is facing nursing home issues within the next five years.
David M. Frees III on eND of Year Urgent Reminders About Estate Planning, Gifting, and Asset Protection
By: David M. Frees III, Esquire Will, Trust and Estate Planning for the End of The Year.
Want to make sure that you avoid the most common estate planning mistakes at the end of the year and that you are reviewing and doing what you need to complete to make sure that your new year starts off just right?
Want to know how much you can gift without filing a gift tax return?
Need to know when those gift checks have to be cashed before you’ve got a problem?
Then click here for a short video and a checklist that you can print out and follow.
It could save you and your heirs thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.
Local Trust, Estate and Will Lawyer David M. Frees III recently appeared on the PBS interview program – Spotlight. As many of Frees’ business and estate planning clients already know, in addition to being a respected Pennsylvania attorney practicing in the areas of trusts, estates, and wills, David Frees is also know outside of the practice of law as an expert in the field of family and inter-generational communications skills.
His recent interview included discussions and techniques from two of his books, The Language of Parenting: Building Great Family Relationships at All Ages and his essay on business communications skills – The Language of Abundance in Elite Books’ Einsteins Business. The techniques and strategies reviewed in these interviews included discussions of both family and business communications secrets.
To View Part One of the David Frees Interview (6 Minuets) on Family and Business Communications Skills here.
Frees was quoted as saying: “Those two skills are not as different as they might at first appear. There really is quite an overlap between my practice of law and my study, speaking, and writing on the topics of business and family communications skills.”
Frees added “Most of my clients really value the knowledge and experience that I bring to the estate planning process. I know how families communicate and I can bring this knowledge to their wills and trusts and attempt to avoid disputes.”
Because many of Frees’ clients are also business and family business owners, his knowledge of marketing, business, and family communications skills are also valuable to his clients.
“Quite a few of my clients have worked with me to grow and to pass on their businesses. Many families and business people just work with me to develop their estate plans and estate planning documents, but many others also value my business and marketing background and my skills as a business problem solver.” “I am always happy when I can help clients in multiple ways to not only pass on their businesses but to help them to solve lifetime problems.”
In fact, Frees’ firm, Unruh, Turner, Burke and Frees and David now represent the second and even the third generation of some families and some family businesses.
“That is really quite a nice compliment.” According to Frees, “When more than one generation of a family or family business continues to use our firm, we feel that we have done a good job for them. But, we are always looking for ways to further enhance our value to the client.”
David M. Frees III is a partner of Unruh, Turner, Burke and Frees and can be reached at
610-933-8069.
Frees provided the following additional resources for our readers:
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