Wealth Preservation, Trusts and Estates

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.

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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.

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Gift Tax Returns Are Due Now!

Gift tax returns are due by April 15th of the year following the gift. You must file a return if you have made a gift of a hard to value asset such as real estate or an interest in a closely held business. You may also need to file a gift tax return if your total gifts to any one person of more than $13,000.00. However, you might not owe any taxes if you’re married and your spouse will “split” the gift but you still have to file a return.

So, if you’re just reading this, in April, you may only have a few days or hours left.

That’s the bad news. However, the good news is that like the individual income tax return, you can file an extension to file the gift tax return and can file up until April.

Click here to link to the IRS for all forms and instructions.

Click here to download the gift tax return form 709 from my website www.PaEstatePlanners.com.

Click here to download the extension form 8892 from my website www.PaEstatePlanners.com

Note: An extension to file does not mean that payment is not due.

I hope that this is helpful. If you need help filing a return for a trust, or for a gift tax return, please call Donna, Denise, or Beth at 610-933-8069 and mention code: David Frees or 2010TAXES for a appointment with one of our tax lawyers.

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By: David M. Frees III, Esquire
Federal Estate Tax Uncertainty

The life insurance industry has a vested interest in how the federal government resolves the current estate tax issues. And as tax payers and consumers so do we. If you’re a Pennsylvania resident with assets including life insurance of over 1 million dollars, how this estate tax issue gets resolved may matter to you and your family. So, I thought that you might find this article published by the life insurance sales industry on estate taxes and the current uncertainty to be interesting. Click here to read more about these uncertain times in estate tax planning and what the insurance industry is saying.

David M. Frees III

Frees maintains law offices in Phoenixville, Malvern, and West Chester. These offices serve clients in many surrounding communities including Exton, Berwyn, Devon, and Collegeville

To update your will, trust, or estate plan to adapt to the uncertain situation with federal estate taxes, call Donna, Denise, or Beth at 610-933-8069 for an appointment. Mention this article and code Spring2010 for a complimentary initial consultation, and free books and reports.

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As fewer and fewer young Americans choose to enter into marriage, the issues of estate planning become more complicated. Since married couples in Pennsylvania benefit from a zero tax rate on inheritances, and on protections for the surviving spouse under the state intestate law, that do not exist for unmarried couples, making sure that you have done your planning is more important than ever.

For more information on estate planning for unmarried couple click here.

David M. Frees III
David Frees is a local lawyer practicing in the areas of trust, estate, estate planning and asset protection law. He has law offices in Malvern, Phoenixville, and West Chester. His firm is Unruh, Turner, Burke and Frees.

To update your estate plan, will, trust or living will please call 610-933-8069 for a consultation by phone or in person with David Frees. Pennsylvania residents can qualify for a free consultation and a reduced fee by mentioning this code: UTBF2010.

Communities Served: Malvern, Phoenixville, Downingtown, Exton, Collegeville, Devon, Berwyn, Ardmore, Wayne, Chester Springs, Edgemont, Willistown Township, Paoli, and many surrounding areas.

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