JK Lasser's New Rules for Estate and Tax Planning (Fourth Edition)

NEW RULES\nFOR ESTATE AND\nTAX PLANNING......Page 3
Contents......Page 7
Acknowledgments......Page 11
Introduction......Page 15
1. Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010......Page 19
Marginal Ordinary Income Tax Rates......Page 20
Educational Provisions......Page 21
Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Transfers......Page 26
What Is Estate Planning?......Page 31
The Benefits of Estate Planning......Page 33
The Nightmares of Poor Planning......Page 34
The Myths of Estate Planning......Page 35
Guidelines for Successful Estate Planning......Page 36
Understanding the Estate Tax System......Page 39
Your Estate Tax Picture......Page 45
Overview of Estate Planning Strategies......Page 48
4. Investment Strategies for Maximizing Estate Growth......Page 50
Growth Strategy with a Safety Net®......Page 51
Prioritizing Your Investment Dollars......Page 55
Retirement Planning: Choosing the Best Investment Environments......Page 56
Some Final Thoughts on Investing......Page 64
Your Retirement Requirements......Page 65
6. You Don’t Have a Will? Big Trouble!......Page 78
Transfers via Probate......Page 79
Direct Transfers by Title......Page 82
Other Methods of Property Ownership......Page 86
Choosing the Best Methods of Ownership......Page 87
Setting Estate Planning Goals......Page 88
Types of Wills......Page 90
Advantages and Disadvantages of Wills......Page 92
Intelligent Decisions Concerning Your Will’s Basic Provisions......Page 94
Where to Store Your Will......Page 104
Other Important Documents......Page 105
Working with Your Attorney......Page 108
When to Review Your Estate Plan......Page 113
8. Using Trusts in Your Estate Plan......Page 116
The Credit Shelter Trust Will......Page 117
Disclaimers......Page 121
Marital Trusts......Page 122
Spendthrift Trust......Page 126
Other Trusts......Page 127
Advantages of Living Trusts......Page 128
Disadvantages of Living Trusts......Page 130
How a Living Trust Operates......Page 131
Transferring Property into Your Living Trust......Page 133
Types of Property Likely to Be Transferred......Page 136
Living Trust Myths......Page 138
Transacting Business with Your Trust......Page 140
Life Insurance......Page 141
Using Life Insurance to Replace Income......Page 143
How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?......Page 144
Insurance on Adult Children......Page 147
How Much Is Enough?......Page 148
Using Life Insurance for Estate Liquidity......Page 149
What Type of Life Insurance Is Best for Estate Liquidity?......Page 150
The Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust......Page 152
Getting Your Life Insurance into Your Trust......Page 153
Using Life Insurance to Leverage Your Estate......Page 155
About Your Cash Values......Page 157
Long-Term Care Insurance......Page 159
The Annual Gift Tax Exclusion......Page 162
Unintended Gifts......Page 163
Filing a Gift Tax Return......Page 164
Outright Gifts......Page 165
When the Donee Is a Minor......Page 167
Family Gifts Utilizing Trusts......Page 170
Grantor Retained Annuity Trust......Page 171
Qualified Personal Residence Trust......Page 172
Taking Advantage of Generation Skipping Transfers......Page 177
Sales to Family Members......Page 179
Loans to Family Members......Page 182
The Legacy Trust......Page 183
12. Strategic Planning with Charities......Page 191
Outright Gifts to Charities......Page 192
Gifts Using Charitable Trusts......Page 194
Using Your Charitable Trust for Retirement Planning......Page 197
The Private Foundation......Page 200
General Structure of the Family Limited Partnership......Page 204
Family Limited Partnership Rules......Page 209
14. Succession Planning for the Family Business or Farm......Page 215
Special Estate Tax Benefits for Farmers and Closely Held Business Owners......Page 217
Valuing Your Business or Farm......Page 218
Succession Planning: Keeping the Family Business in the Family......Page 219
Maximizing Your Business’s Value through a Sale......Page 220
Structuring Your Buy-Sell Agreement......Page 221
Types of Buy-Sell Agreements......Page 222
Funding the Buy-Sell Agreement......Page 223
One Final Strategy—The Employee Stock Ownership Plan......Page 224
15. Asset Protection Strategies......Page 226
The Concept of Fraudulent Transfers......Page 227
Retirement Plans......Page 230
Using Trusts to Protect Assets......Page 232
Using Limited Liability Entities to Protect Assets......Page 234
Use of Multiple Limited Liability Entities......Page 236
Foreign Asset Protection Trusts......Page 237
Domestic Asset Protection Trusts......Page 239
Choosing the Right Entity for Your Business......Page 241
Closing Thoughts......Page 251
Importance of a Business Plan......Page 253
Epilogue—Dealing with Parents and Their Money......Page 255
Appendix A—Professional Advisors......Page 257
Appendix B—Estate Planning Terms......Page 261
Appendix C—IRS Life Expectancy Table......Page 266
Index......Page 269