Isn't it just like Collectivists to combine the two inevitabilities in life...death and taxes...into a charming additional burden on a grieving family? Ah, can you feel the love for their fellows!
Full disclosure here: I am a lawyer, and I will help people form a trust. But this isn't a commercial (hey, this is an anonymous blog...see?). This is just sound advice.
But it also isn't TAX advice so much. I HATE tax law, and I have a kink about it. Really. When even my clients need tax advice (and that is often), I have to tell them to talk to somebody else.
But I DO understand the big picture, and the excellent device our ancestors left for us in the form of trusts.
A trust is a wonderfully plastic legal fiction. If you have an estate that will become subject to the Death Tax, you can put stuff into a trust now, use it for as long as you live, and it ALREADY has been set aside for the benefit of anyone you want to leave your stuff. No probate. No will (unless you have kids that will need a guardian). No Death Tax. No fuss.
Is a trust free? Uh, no. No free goods, remember? Something for something. But are they excellent instruments for assuring your family, friends, pets, whatever gets the benefit of what you earned? Yeppers, they are.
You tell Uncle Sugar to go mine someone else's gold (teeth). You have already put your's where he can't have it.
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I suppose the theory is that dead people are much less likely to complain or participate a tea party demonstrations than other demographic groups.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea some elderly friends are thinking about. If you want to transfer property to your kids, now may be a good time. The taxable real estate values may never be more favorable.
Yep. Very sound.
ReplyDeleteWhat the law calls a "advanced bequist". Like, just give it to them now...