Wealth Preservation, Trusts and Estates

As most readers know, the federal estate tax (FET) was repealed for one year at the end of 2009 and it is looking less and less likely that there will be a retroactive application of the FET. However, there is still a gift tax, presently 35%, if you give away more than $1 million in assets during your lifetime. Additionally, the federal estate tax is likely to be reinstituted in 2011 so we should continue to consider ways to transfer assets without using any of our credit against the federal estate tax or gift tax. Check out this Forbes Magazine article on 5 ways to make gift tax free gifts.

Please contact Douglas L. Kaune, Esq. any time at 610-933-8069 or dkaune@utbf.com to discuss your particular your estate planning questions and to review these or other gifting or transfer strategies.
Wills * Trusts * Elder Law * Probate * Asset Protection * Power of Attorney * Estate Planning
Unruh, Turner, Burke & Frees, P.C. is a full service law firm with offices in Malvern, Phoenixville, West Chester, Pennsylvania and serving Royersford, Paoli, Frazier, Chester Springs, Downingtown, Radnor, Chester County, Montgomery County, Delaware County, Bucks County, Berks County, Philadelphia County Pennsylvania (PA).

Pennsylvania, through its Inheritance Tax, is one of many states that applies a death tax upon the estates of its deceased residents and real property owners. I think it is interesting and important to know about the other state death tax systems. Check out this site for a review of how Pennsylvania and all other estates apply their inheritance tax systems. Keep in mind that real estate owned in a particular state is taxed in accordance with that state’s laws regardless of where the deceased owner resided at death. We frequently represent the estates of deceased Pennsylvania residents who own valuable real estate in other states such as New Jersey, Delaware and New York. Knowing the tax laws of other states can help us incorporate the proper estate planning not only for Pennsylvania inheritance tax concerns, but also other laws that might apply to our clients.

Please feel free to contact Douglas L. Kaune, Esq. any time at 610-933-8069 or dkaune@utbf.com to discuss your particular Estate issue to determine the appropriate planning for you and your family.
Wills * Trusts * Elder Law * Probate * Asset Protection * Power of Attorney * Estate Planning
Unruh, Turner, Burke & Frees, P.C. is a full service law firm with Malvern, Phoenixville, West Chester Offices serving Chester County, Montgomery County, Delaware County, Bucks County, Berks County, Philadelphia County Pennsylvania (PA).

If two PA Cases continue to hold, Your Joint Accounts Might Not Pass To Surviving Joint Owner. We have long believed in the sanctity of the contractual obligation created by a joint account designation. We believed that the joint account would pass automatically to the surviving joint owner regardless of what the decedent’s last will directed. This belief has now been drawn into question by two pennsylvania cases IN RE: ESTATE OF AMELIA J. PIET 2008 PA Super 72 and In re Novosielski, 937 A.2d 449 (Pa. Super. 2007).
Both of these cases have different sets of fact, but two separate Courts have come to the conclusion that where joint ownership was established after the signing of a will, the joint accounts would pass according to the decent’s last will and testament and not to the surviving joint owner. The Courts further stated that the initial presumption of the Multiple Party Accounts Act, pa 20 Pa.C.S. § 6301 that survivorship rights are established is rebutted by the existance of contrary provisions of a previously signed will.
PLANNING TIPS:1. We suggest that if you make a will and later transfer an account to joint names, you should make a contemporaneous writing that states your intention to make an account joint contrary to the will provisions. 2. You should also consider updating your wills to add a provision that states accounts made joint by you at a later date should not be distributed according to your will unless the joint account is the result of cohersion or fraud. 3. Executors should be careful to consider their obligation to pursue joint accounts being distributed contrary to a decedent’s will.

Please feel free to contact Douglas L. Kaune, Esq. any time at 610-933-8069 or dkaune@utbf.com to discuss your particular Estate Planning, Probate, Trust Planning and Elder law case to determine the appropriate planning for you and your family. Unruh, Turner, Burke & Frees is a full service firm with offices in Phoenixville, West Chester and Malvern representing clients in surrounding communities such as King of Prussia, Collegeville, Royersford, Paoli and Frazer.
Wills * Trusts * Elder Law * Probate * Asset Protection * Power of Attorney * Estate Planning

Avoid Probate With A Revocable Living Trust In Pennsylvania (PA). I want to remind everyone to consider a combination of a pour over will and revocable living trust to help avoid probate for your estate. Read here to learn more about the mechanics of a revocable living trust. There are many people who choose to use a revocable living trust because they want to save some time and expense for their beneficiaries by avoiding probate.  Here is a great link to David Frees, Esquire’s review of the probate avoidance debate.  The will and trust themselves are only the first step, you must also properly title all of your assets into the name of the revocable trust during your lifetime in order to fully avoid probate. We often work with clients to prepare the pour over will, revocable living trust and also to retitle bank accounts, stock accounts, real estate and other assets into the revocable trust name. This is likely to have a higher upfront cost for the consumer, but it will likely serve to provide a savings of time and money for the beneficiaries of an estate. The revocable living trust is not an estate planning tool for everyone and it certainly makes more sense for some than others. Using a will alone or a will and a revocable trust is a personal choice that clients make when deciding the best way to accomplish their family estate planning goals. Read here to learn more about the revocable living trust pros and cons.
Please feel free to contact Douglas L. Kaune, Esquire any time at 610-933-8069 or dkaune@utbf.com to discuss your particular estate plan and determine if the revocable living trust is right for you.
Wills * Trusts * Elder Law * Probate * Asset Protection * Power of Attorney * Estate Planning
Malvern, Phoenixville, West Chester Offices Chester County Montgomery County, Delaware County, Bucks County, Berks County, Philadelphia County Law Practice Locations.

The Qualified Domestic Trust (QDOT) is an imortant estate planning option for married couples composed of at least one non U.S. citizen. The United States federal estate tax laws are very different as they relate to a surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen compared to a citizen spouse. In particular the surving non-citizen spouse in not given an unlimited marital deduction for assets passing from his or her spouse at death. Therefore, some portion of the assets left to the surviving non citizen spouse could be subjected to a federal estate tax at rates in excess of 40%. The QDOT is one estate planning tool used to defer the estate tax owed by the non-citizen surviving spouse. The QDOT can be created under a last will and testament, a revocable living trust or as a stand alone trust. Transfers made at death to a QDOT for the benefit of a non-citizen spouse will qualify for the marital deduction and will not be taxed at that time. The creation of the trust mechanism is not sufficient and must be coupled with prudent lifetime planning and asset titling. Read here for additional information on the international estate planning issues generally.
To add to the complexity of this issue, the overall U.S. federal estate tax system is unsettled. As we have discussed on numerous occasions on this site, the federal estate tax was technically repealed on January 1 2010 but there is extensive discussion of the estate tax being reinstituted by Congress retroactively to January 1, 2010. We will continue to address other estate planning concerns of non-U.S. citizens and U.S. citizens alike in later Blog entries.
Please feel free to contact us any time at 610-933-8069 or dkaune@utbf.com to discuss your particular circumstances to determine the appropriate planning options for you.
Wills * Trusts * Elder Law * Probate * Asset Protection * Power of Attorney * Estate Planning
Malvern, Phoenixville, West Chester Offices Chester County Montgomery County, Delaware County, Bucks County, Berks County, Philadelphia County Law Practice Locations.

Remember to Review The Tax Allocation Clause In Your Will or Trust. by Douglas L. Kaune, Esquire. Most people do not realize that they can choose which beneficiaries will be responsible for paying the PA inheritance tax and federal estate tax on their taxable estate. Many wills are written automatically and sometimes incorrectly to say that the taxes are to be paid from the residue of the probate estate. Therefore, you could unexpectedly lay the entire tax burden on the shoulders of the people who are beneficiares under the will where there are beneficiaries of specific assets in the will, joint accounts or beneficiaries named on an IRA or 401K or stock account outside of the probate estate. The PA inheritance and federal estate taxes could be tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars so you should be careful to structure the tax clause, if desired, to make the beneficiaries of specific gifts or nonprobate assets responsible for paying the tax on what they receive. Review this article for a closer look at the tax clause issue and specific examples of where it might be important to adjust the clause to insure a fair allocation of the taxes in your estate.
Please feel free to contact us at any time at 610-933-8069 or dkaune@utbf.com to discuss your particular case to determine the appropriate tax clause in your estate planning documents.
Wills * Trusts * Elder Law * Probate * Asset Protection * Power of Attorney * Estate Planning
Malvern, Phoenixville, West Chester Offices Chester County Montgomery County, Delaware County, Bucks County, Berks County, Philadelphia County Law Practice Locations.

Executor and Attorney Fees and commisions For Estate Administrations and Probate in Pennsylvania (PA).  This is often a mysterious topic for many who find themselves involved in an estate administration as executor or beneficiary in PA.   There is not a perfect answer as to what the executor , attorney and probate fees will be in each case, but click here to see the statutory references to Pennsylvania estate administration fees, PA executor commisions, attorney fees and Johnson Estate Fee Guidelines.   Also check this guide by David M. Frees, III Esquire for some helpful information relating to the estate administration fee issues.   The fee structure might vary generally depending on the estate value and complexity.  It is a good practice to establish a flat fee or flat fee range based loosely on the PA estate fee guidelines, but modified by the other contributing factors in the particular estate administration case.  Please feel free to contact us any time at 610-933-8069 or dkaune@utbf.com to discuss your particular estate/probate case to determine the appropriate fee structure for an attorney or executor.
Wills * Trusts * Elder Law * Probate * Asset Protection * Power of Attorney * Estate Planning
Malvern, Phoenixville, West Chester Offices Chester County Montgomery County, Delaware County, Bucks County, Berks County, Philadelphia County Law Practice Locations.