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Qualified Disclaimers: A tool for when you would prefer not to accept an inheritance A qualified disclaimer is a formal refusal to accept property or assets being distributed from an estate or trust. When a beneficiary disclaims (ie, refuses) an inheritance, it passes to another beneficiary as if the disclaiming person never had ownership of… Read More

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), enacted in December 2017, introduced significant reforms that affected various aspects of federal taxation, including changes to estate and gift tax provisions. One of the most notable provisions was the temporary increase in the exemption amounts for federal estate and gift taxes. However, these increases are set to… Read More

A sometimes-overlooked part of estate planning is charitable giving. End of life gifts to charities can leave a lasting impact on the causes you care about and have the added benefit of reducing the size of your taxable estate. A Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) can be an excellent solution for incorporating charitable giving into your estate… Read More

Federal law imposes a tax on gifts made in excess of a specific amount in a calendar year to a specific recipient (known as a “donee”). That tax is usually paid by the donor (the giver) of the gift. The specific amount is known as the annual gift exclusion. The annual gift exclusion is $18,000… Read More

The “basic exclusion amount” is the amount of a deceased person’s estate that passes free of federal estate tax.  This differs from the unlimited marital deduction that applies when one spouse dies and transfers all of his or her interest in property to the surviving spouse.  There is a basic exclusion amount for federal estate… Read More

Under a power of attorney, one individual, the Principal, grants to another individual or other appropriate agent the authority to take certain actions on behalf of the Principal. Often, a power of attorney is drafted broadly to give the agent authority to act on a variety of types of matters or with respect to the… Read More

One of the primary goals of estate planning is to establish protective mechanisms for beneficiaries with varying needs. For instance, a young couple with children may opt for a trust and appoint a reliable trustee to manage assets until the children reach an age where they can responsibly handle their own finances. Alternatively, some individuals… Read More

October 24th, 2024 Beresford Booth Attorney Emily Y. Tyson-Shu talks about Beneficiary Designation 101 Is Having a Will Only Sufficient for Estate Planning? Read More

I was standing in a light drizzle on the sidelines of my son’s soccer game, chatting with another parent, when she mentioned that she’d done an overwhelming amount of adulting in the past week, including signing her Will. That is great. Everyone should have a Will, but especially parents of young kids. However, she said… Read More