LEGAL ARTICLES
ASSET PROTECTION & ESTATE PLANNING

Neither asset protection planning nor estate planning should be viewed as a discipline unto itself. In today’s litigious environment, practitioners should consider combining asset protection planning with each estate plan prepared for a client. After all, if our clients’ assets are lost to a catastrophic judgment, even the most sophisticated estate planning techniques are likely to be worthless.

PRIOR VERSIONS: 2008 PDF | 2009 PDF

The Florida Bar Journal, December 2010. Effective July 1, 2010, new F.S. §736.0505(3) allows married couples to take advantage more easily of one another's estate tax exemptions and, at the same time, to enhance asset protection planning. Before enactment of the new statutory provision, it was unclear whether assets contributed to an inter vivos QTIP trust by one spouse that pass in trust for the benefit of the initial donor upon the death of the donor's spouse would be subject to the claims of the donor spouse's creditors, and, therefore, includible in the donor spouse's estate under I.R.C. §2041. The new statute clarifies the asset protection and estate tax benefits of inter vivos QTIP trust planning. As described in this article, inter vivos QTIP trust planning can be enhanced if trusts are created by both the husband and wife, but only if the two trusts are not reciprocal.

BNA, Estates, Gifts and Trusts Journal, 2010. Florida’s Supreme Court held in Olmstead v. FTC, that a court may order a judgment debtor to surrender all right, title and interest in the debtor's single-member limited liability company (“LLC”), organized under Florida law, to satisfy an outstanding judgment. The Florida Supreme Court said: “[s]pecifically, we conclude that there is no reasonable basis for inferring that the provision authorizing the use of charging orders under section 608.433 (4) establishes the sole remedy for a judgment creditor against a judgment debtor’s interest in single-member LLC.”

Trusts & Estates Magazine, October 2008. Tell your family whether, if the occasion arises, they should take you off life support before the death tax repeal sunsets in 2011.

Intra-Family Loans are an effective way to shift wealth between family members. For those who routinely take advantage of annual exclusion gifts and want to convey additional tax-free wealth to family members, Intra-Family Loans should be considered.

IRS AFR RULINGS BY MONTH

Trusts & Estates Magazine, July 2008. The mere words "asset protection" make some lawyers wince. They think asset protection is dirty and those engaged in it are the ambulance chasers of the estate planning bar. Truth is, many lawyers already are engaging in asset protection without even knowing it. Don't believe me? Take this quiz yourself, give it to your estate-planning lawyer friends, and see.

Trusts & Estates Magazine, May 2008. Recent cases help keep the state's status as a haven - despite the 2005 Bankruptcy Act. This article addresses how you should hold title to your real property and financial investments to maximize asset protection.

Trusts & Estates Magazine, May 2008. Institutions get higher prices for bonds than individuals - yet standard bond valuations are based on the institutional prices. The result: individuals can pay unnecessarily high estate taxes. Time to stop that. Filing a 706 with using standard valuations services where clients own a significant bond portfolio could possibly result in overpayment of estate taxes. Using a custom bond valuation may result in significant estate tax savings.

The Florida Bar Journal, January 2001. Since the enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), courts have interpreted the limitations that BAPCPA placed on homestead protection. With the exception of the Bankruptcy Court for the Arizona District, the courts have uniformly held that, even for residents of states that have chosen to "opt out" of the federal bankruptcy exemptions, debtors may not exempt any amount of homestead property exceeding $125,000 in value if the property was acquired by the debtor during the 1, 215-day period preceding the date the bankruptcy petition was filed.

Trusts & Estates Magazine, November 2005. 

LEGAL ARTICLES - TAX LAW
The following notice is required by the IRS: Any U.S. federal tax advice contained in the articles and information in this web site is not intended to be written or used, and cannot be used or relied upon, to avoid tax-related penalties under the Internal Revenue Code, or to promote, market or recommend to another any tax-related matter addressed herein.