I listened to an interesting seminar yesterday titled “Estate Planning in Agriculture: Protecting a Way of Life” sponsored by WealthCounsel.com. Stan Miller and Robert Serio were the presenters. Serio covered the Farm Service Agency (FSA) Subsidy Programs and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Programs. He cautioned attorneys to be careful to not to do […]
“Serving as an executor or trustee is neither an honor, nor a game for beginners to play. Acting as an executor or trustee requires technical skills, experience, and an ability to deal with the family members involved. Nevertheless, clients often choose an executor and the trustee without fairly evaluating the needs of the estate or trust against the […]
I’ll be brief, and in being brief, I’ll gloss over some details. But here’s the low down. A husband and wife farming couple can receive up to $250,000 annually in FSA program subsidies if they grow corn, soybeans, cotton, rice, and the like AND if they are actively engaged in farming AND if they are […]
My entire immediate family was in town for the last five days. My three children, my son-in-law, and my one grandchild–a two-year-old girl with lots to say and not enough words to say it. Now actually, what I just wrote is true and not true at the same time. What I just described is that […]
I had a person ask me about the difference between a gun trust and his existing living trust. I sent him the following (I’ve changed his name to protect his privacy): Fred, Again, thanks for contacting me about gun trusts and more specifically, how a gun trust differs from your existing living trust. I’ll try to […]
This is a weekend, and my granddaughter is here from Connecticut, so I’m not taking time to blog today, other than to post link to a video of the entire funeral service for Justice Antonin Scalia. The highlight, for me, was his son the priest’s homily. Warm and serious–just like the Justice. Enjoy. I hesitate […]
Because of the applicable exclusion amount, a married couple must have an estate of almost $11,000,000 dollars (2016) before the estate taxman comes and actually takes his share. As a consequence, the emphasis in estate planning–at least for smaller estates–is all about saving income taxes–capital gains, to be precise–on appreciated property. I don’t have the time right […]
If your sole purpose in purchasing a gun or NFA trust is so you can buy that silencer and avoid the need for your local Chief Law Enforcement Officer’s (CLEO) signature*, then I’m not your guy. As I explain elsewhere on this site, I see gun trusts as accomplishing that purpose and much more, including […]
What do I mean by “pinch”? Well, let’s say that you’ve created a trust, with yourself as the initial trustee. You know what you want to do with your trust, who you want to benefit, what you what to happen and what you don’t want to happen–that drug addled nephew, for example doesn’t get anything […]
Just because you have a will and a living trust doesn’t mean you’re finished with the estate planning process. There is another, essential step, a step called funding your trust. Remember, among the reasons you have (or hope to have) a will and living trust are to avoid probate to the extent possible and to make […]