People often come to us curious — or confused — about the role trusts play in saving on taxes. Given how frequently this issue comes up, here we’re going to explain the tax implications associated with different types of trusts in order to clarify this issue. Of course, if you need further clarification about trusts, taxes, or any other issue related to estate planning, meet with us, your Personal Family Lawyer® for additional guidance.
Read MoreWith the cost of a funeral averaging between $7,000 and $12,000 and steadily increasing each year, at the very least, your estate plan should include enough money to cover this final expense. And if you are thinking of simply setting aside money in your will to cover your funeral expenses, you should seriously reconsider, as paying for your funeral through your will can create unnecessary burdens for your loved ones.
Read MoreIf you are like many homeowners, your home is likely your family’s most valuable and treasured asset. In light of this, you want to plan wisely to ensure your home will pass to your heirs in the most efficient and safe manner possible when you die or in the event you become incapacitated by illness or injury.
Indeed, proper estate planning is as much a part of responsible homeownership as having homeowners insurance or keeping your home’s roof well maintained. When it comes to including your home in your estate plan, you have a variety of different planning vehicles to choose from, but for a variety of different reasons, putting your home in a trust is often the smartest choice.
In part one, we explained how revocable living trusts and irrevocable trusts work, and we discussed the process of transferring the legal title of your home into a trust to ensure it’s properly funded. Here in part two, we will outline the key advantages of using a trust to pass your home to your loved ones compared to other estate planning strategies.
Read MoreMany people come to us curious (or confused) about trusts and taxes. So today’s article is going to sort it out and clarify things for you.
There are two types of trusts, and each have different tax consequences.
Revocable trusts, which are the far more commonly used trusts, have no tax consequences whatsoever. A revocable trust has your social security number as its tax identifier, and is not a separate entity from you for tax purposes.
When you have an irrevocable trust, either created during life, at death through a revocable living trust, or through a will that creates a trust, that trust has its own EIN, or employer identification number (also called a TIN or taxpayer identification number).
Read MoreYou’ve heard the terms Trust Fund or Trust Account tossed around, but really, what is a Trust? Watch and learn the breakdown of Trust basics.
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