Your 401(k) may not be the best place to put your money. In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Anne Tergesen points out that Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) come with more tax advantages than 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) when used to cover medical costs, a large…
If you die without a Will or Trust, your assets will be divided up based on the intestacy laws of the state where you live at the time of your death and the intestacy laws of any other state where you own assets. Many times the intestacy laws will give…
Gifting assets to your grandchildren can reduce the size of your estate and the tax that will be due upon your death. You may give each grandchild up to $14,000 a year without having to report the gift. If you are married, both you and your spouse can make such…
In Illinois, estates can be administered under an Independent Administration or a Supervised Administration. Unless an interested party requests a supervised administration, an estate is opened as an independent administration. Unlike a supervised administration, an independent administration does not require filing an inventory and accounting with the Court for the Judge to review.…
As outlined in U.S. News and World Report, Roth IRAs have many appealing characteristics. They grow income tax free. Owners are not required to take minimum distributions at age 70 1/2 so long as the account has been in place for five years. The income limit has been removed on…
Authority to appoint the property of an original trust to a second trust is commonly referred to as decanting authority. This gives authority to a trustee allowing him to adapt and revise the terms of a trust due to unforeseen circumstances or drafting errors. Statutory decanting authority allows for modification of…
Congress put in place the kiddie tax to prevent individuals from putting assets in the names of their children who typically have far lower tax rates than their parents. As Laura Saunders points out in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, this tax needs to be kept in…
You execute your Durable Power of Attorney for Property while you are competent. Your agent is given power to act on your behalf. Because it is durable, the Power of Attorney document can still be used if you become incompetent. A Power of Attorney for Property includes many speficially referenced powers. 1) Real Estate Transactions –…
In his article titled Estate Planning for a Family with a Special Needs Child, Sebastian V. Grassi, Jr. lists five estate planning options for parents of a special needs child 1. Distributing assets directly to the special needs child; 2. Disinheriting the special needs child; 3. Leaving property to another…
You can withdraw your original contributions to a Roth at any time. But you must wait five years to avoid paying the tax on earnings on regular contributions and you must be 59 1/2 years old. If you inherit a Roth from your spouse, the taxable period ends either five…