Ensuring Communication of Your Health Care Wishes: Bridging the Gap Between Health Care Directives and End-of-Life Care
“Lacking a coherent view of how people might live successfully all the way to their very end, we have allowed our fates to be controlled by the imperatives of medicine, technology, and strangers.” -Dr. Atul Gawande, Being Mortal A Common Story John Smith has an inoperable brain tumor and is showing early signs of dementia. Five years ago, while in good health, John met with his attorney and signed a Health Care Directive, naming his second wife, Betty, as his Health Care Agent. In his Health Care Directive, John indicated his treatment preferences: if he was in a terminal condition or… Read more
Inside Out: Rethinking Estate Planning for Family Businesses
By: Roy Kozupsky & Amelia (“Amy”) Renkert-Thomas Estate planning for family business owners is big business for many wealth advisors. Fueling this area of work is a combination of factors including the historically large (and at least for now increasing) federal estate tax exemptions. Congressional leaders, in their redundant debate, perennially raise the possibility of changing the estate tax regime. Both sides seem politically persuasive. The left argues that tax revenues are needed and warns that large amounts of wealth being transferred to future generations will create a dynastic social atmosphere that will weaken the entrepreneurial fabric of America’s culture…. Read more
Passing the Family Business with a Charitable Remainder Trust
A question for our readers: A charitable remainder trust can (a) benefit family members, (b) benefit charity, (c) help diversify assets in a tax efficient manner, or (d) all of the above? The answer is (d). A charitable remainder trust (“CRT”) can provide you, your spouse, or other beneficiaries with lifetime income (annually either a fixed amount or a percentage of the trust’s value (which will increase or decrease as the value of the trust changes)). When your interest in the trust ends, the balance remaining passes to charity. At the time you set up the CRT, you receive a… Read more