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So far Legacy Law Center has created 67 blog entries.
17 05, 2017

Structuring Executor’s Fees to Avoid Income Tax For Your Heirs

By |2018-01-29T13:08:27-06:00May 17th, 2017|0 Comments

Last week, I began working on the Last Will and Testament for a Metairie couple who were leaving their assets equally to their 3 children after they both passed. One of their biggest goals was compensating their daughter for her role as executor of the estate. They thought it would be appropriate for her to receive a little bit more than her two brothers because of the work she would have to take on as executor.Typically you would lay out in your will that the executor gets a percentage of the estate (anywhere from 1 to 3%) as compensation. However, [...]

16 05, 2017

Treat Your Separate Property and Community Property Differently

By |2018-01-29T13:08:27-06:00May 16th, 2017|0 Comments

Yesterday, I visited with a married couple at their house in Houma to discuss how to best structure their Louisiana Estate Plan. Their biggest concern was simplifying the estate settlement process to avoid complications, costs, and delays after death. However, they were also concerned because they were both on their second marriage and had a marriage contract (prenuptial agreement) which classified certain assets that they owned as separate property. Traditionally, the surviving spouse remains in control of the entire estate as long as they live. This couple wanted their separate property to go out to each of their children when [...]

15 05, 2017

An Option for Lowering Your Taxable Estate

By |2018-01-29T13:08:27-06:00May 15th, 2017|0 Comments

Federal Estate Tax is an issue faced by wealthy Louisiana residents that forces their family to pay a nearly 50% percent tax to the government if someone has too much money when they die. Currently, single persons with over about $5.45 million and married couples with over $10.9 million dollars are subject to federal estate tax. The family must pay between 40% and 50% tax on any amounts in the estate exceeding the aforementioned limits. So the question becomes, is there any way Louisiana residents can avoid their family being forced to pay this exorbitant tax?One option is to slowly [...]

12 05, 2017

You Can Pay Tuition for Kids and Grandkids Tax-Free

By |2018-01-29T13:08:27-06:00May 12th, 2017|0 Comments

In a former blog post, we discussed how you can make $14,000 yearly donations to children, grandchildren and others in order to lower your taxable estate and avoid estate tax. Today, we will explore paying for education expenses for your kids and grandkids, another option for lowering your taxable estate to get it down below or near the current $5.3 million (single persons) and $10.6 million (married persons) federal estate tax exemption levels. This option can be used in conjunction with yearly donations to speed up the process of removing assets from your estate. Paying for tuition on behalf of [...]

11 05, 2017

Why Irrevocable Trusts Make Sense for Real Estate Investors

By |2018-01-29T13:08:27-06:00May 11th, 2017|0 Comments

This week I met with a married couple in Mandeville who owns multiple pieces of real estate here in Louisiana. The real estate comprised the bulk of their assets and they didn’t have much else in the way of liquid assets. The husband is in the early stages of dementia and they are concerned about his need for long term care in the future. To address this concern, they wisely purchased long-term care insurance policies years earlier. However, the coverage on these policies only extends for 3 years. They are worried that 3 years of coverage will not be enough [...]

10 05, 2017

Transferring CDs to Trust? Sometimes You Need to Wait . . .

By |2018-01-29T13:08:27-06:00May 10th, 2017|0 Comments

Whenever setting up a trust for a client for purposes of avoiding probate or avoiding nursing home spend-down, it is almost always advisable to move Certificates of Deposit into the trust. However, as a client from Bogalusa experienced this week, sometimes banks are not very flexible with their CDs.There are many banks out there that will allow you to change the name on your CD’s to the name of your trust at any point. Typically the smaller, local banks are flexible when it comes to re-titling CD’s. However, some banks will make you wait until a CD matures before you [...]

9 05, 2017

Placing Educational Conditions on Inheritance

By |2018-01-29T13:08:27-06:00May 9th, 2017|0 Comments

I met with a family from Belle Chasse yesterday to discuss some ideas on how to include their grandkids in their estate planning. The grandparents were adamant that any amounts inherited by those grandchildren would first be used for their education, but not just any education, only for education at a 4-year university program.To accomplish this goal, we are creating trusts for the grandchildren and placing restrictions on how the money can be used. Each grandchild’s parents will be responsible for managing the funds for the grandkids and may only use funds in the trust to pay for a 4-year [...]

8 05, 2017

How You Can Decide the Tax Implications of Your Inherited IRAs

By |2018-01-29T13:08:27-06:00May 8th, 2017|0 Comments

A client in the Houma area recently asked me how tax-deferred IRA’s are taxed when they go to a beneficiary. The answer all depends on the structure of your Louisiana Estate Plan and the wishes of your beneficiary, but it is possible to spread the tax out over the lifespan of your beneficiary.Let’s say you have a $500,000 IRA and you name your 2 sons as equal beneficiaries. When you pass away, one son, who is 50 years old, decides to roll his $250,000 portion into an IRA in his name. This child will need to start taking minimum distributions [...]

3 05, 2017

Get Power of Attorney Before It’s Too Late

By |2018-01-29T13:08:28-06:00May 3rd, 2017|0 Comments

Yesterday morning I spoke with a lady from Metairie whose mom is currently in a nursing home due to her dementia. Mom never signed a power of attorney, and the daughter has run into issues in managing her mother’s accounts and bills and was hoping there was a way to get power of attorney for her mom.Unfortunately, I had to let the daughter know it’s too late. At this point, mom does not have the mental capacity to sign a power of attorney. The only way for the daughter to gain control of mom’s affairs will be through a court [...]

2 05, 2017

Leave Your Louisiana Estate by Percentage instead of by Dollar Amount

By |2018-01-29T13:08:28-06:00May 2nd, 2017|0 Comments

I was meeting with a client in Mandeville this week, who had a clear idea of how he wanted his assets divided amongst his kids and grandkids. He wanted his 2 kids to get $350,000 each and his 3 grandkids to receive $100,000 each. At the moment there is enough assets in the estate to satisfy these cash bequests to his kids and grandkids. However, the problem lies in the fact that we don’t know what the future holds, and the value of the estate could go down. This could create a situation where certain heirs get less than intended [...]

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