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What Are the Tax Implications of Transferring Property Into a Trust?
While a trust technically becomes the owner of your home when you sign a deed transferring ownership to a grantor trust, rest assured that you will still receive the same real estate tax exemptions and/or benefits that you received when your home was owned in your individual name.
I read somewhere that the New York State Estate Tax Exemption was increasing again this year, could you explain this to me?
My mother passed away with $20,000 in credit card debt. As the Executor of her estate, am I liable for these bills?
I am the Executor of my father’s Estate. The Surrogate’s Court has asked me to provide them with an “Inventory of Assets”. What is an Inventory of Assets?
New York’s Estate Tax law has just seen its most dramatic change in recent memory. Finally, the exemption has increased from $1,000,000.00 where it has remained since 2002, with the exemption set to increase annually until it matches the federal estate tax exemption in 2019.
Individuals who have received benefits under the New York State Medicaid program are subject to estate recovery for all assets passing through their probate estate. This is a minimum requirement under Federal Law.
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An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (“ILIT”) is a valuable estate planning tool used to reduce estate taxes – known as death taxes during an election year. Whether you need an ILIT depends on how much your assets are worth now or what your potential net worth is in the future.
Whether an executor needs to hire an attorney depends on the type of assets, size of the estate, family dynamics, estate tax considerations, and outstanding bills.
Most people do not realize that a Will likely does not control who collects on a life insurance policy. The beneficiary named on the policy supersedes the Will. So long as the policy owner correctly designated a beneficiary on the policy, that designation controls.
In New York State, a parent has no obligation to leave an inheritance to a child. Many other countries have “forced heirship” which prohibits parents from disinheriting children, but Louisiana is the only US state with such a law.
The word is defined as “the ability to be easily moved,” but in the context of Trusts & Estates, it means much more. In this regard, portability is one of the strongest tools in the planner’s toolbox to reduce or eliminate federal estate taxes after the deaths of a married couple.
Surrogate’s Court hears cases involving the affairs of decedents, the probate of wills, and the administration of estates. The Surrogate’s Court also handles certain types of guardianship petitions and adoptions.
