Question: How can someone, with a house, a rental house and investments altogether worth $4 million, plan for both a stepped-up in basis and the full federal estate tax exemption without allowing [...]

Question: I’m 65, collecting Social Security, own a condo, and own a building in which I operate a restaurant. The restaurant pays rent to an LLC  of which I’m the sole owner. I have a will [...]

Question: My father remarried after my mother died. He was in his sixties. He owned our family home and had no mortgage or liens. He never put his second wife on the deed because he wanted to [...]

Question: I have family business interest in an LLC and an S-Corp which own commercial real estate and generate my income from rent. I would like to leave this interest to my 4 children (2 are [...]

Question: My mother is on a second marriage. What kind of trusts can you set up to protect her money from a previous marriage? Response: The answer depends a bit on what risks your mother is [...]

Question: My father is in a second marriage and wanted to gift his money to me to protect it from the debts of his spouse and wife’s family. The plan would be to use this gifted money for [...]

Question: My father remarried and wants to grant life estate rights to his new wife. In the event of his death, if she were to remarry, can she grant life estate rights to her new spouse? [...]

Of course, decisions about marriage are based more on feelings of love and need for companionship and security than on legal and financial concerns. But marriage has legal and financial [...]

If you’re getting married or you’re in a committed relationship and this is not your first gig, you and your fiance or partner should consider a prenuptial agreement or, if you’re not [...]

So, what’s a QTIP trust? “QTIP” stands for qualified terminable interest property, total legal gobbeldygook, right? So forget the words. What it means is a trust that you leave [...]