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Executors, or personal representatives in some states, are responsible for administering a person's estate after that person dies. These duties include collecting and managing any assets, paying off any bills and taxes, closing the estate and eventually distributing...
Scott Taylor Smith, author of the book "When Someone Dies," recently wrote an article suggesting several important steps folks can take to make things easier on their loved ones when they die. Many, if not most, of these suggestions are routinely handled in the estate...
As part of its ongoing effort to address the national debt load and the possibility of hitting the "debt ceiling," the Obama administration has made a number of proposals that would increase income to the federal government and help alleviate the problem. As we've...
Beneficiaries of trusts have certain rights to the property being held in trust for their benefit. Because of this, suits between beneficiaries and trustees can involve a number of legal issues. One of these is the way the trustee is handling the trust assets. If the...
In our previous post, we began looking at how current proposals to cut spending and increase revenue could affect important estate planning tools. Last time, we looked specifically at how grantor retained annuity trusts could be affected, and we began to speak about...
The American Taxpayer Relief Act, passed not too long ago by Congress, was able to provide a measure of certainty for estate planners with respect to tax planning, but there is still uncertainty ahead because of political debates over government spending and revenue...
Trusts are very useful tools when it comes to estate planning. Their uses in this area include protecting and providing for children, tax planning benefits, professional management of assets, among others. But trusts do have their own unique challenges. One of the...
The body of New York-based artist Merton D. Simpson, a painter well known for championing African art and who accumulated a collection worth millions of dollars, is in a bit of a predicament after last month's funeral. After the ceremony, the body of the art collector...
