Categories
What Is A Charitable Remainder Trust?
A charitable remainder trust is an often-overlooked estate planning tool for persons with charitable (or tax-planning) goals who fear losing the use of assets during life. This article provides an overview of charitable remainder trusts for planning during life and after death, outlining the flexibility, risks, and tax benefits of the trust.
Like all trusts, a charitable remainder trust involves the transfer of assets to a middleman, called the trustee. The trustee distributes the assets to persons (or entities) known as beneficiaries. A charitable remainder trust has two categories of beneficiaries. The “life” beneficiary is often the donor (the person creating the trust and contributing...
Connecticut residents have a default estate plan. It is codified in a set of statutes known as the laws of intestacy. These laws determine who is entitled to inherit the deceased’s property. Generally, the distribution of property depends on whether a person was married, had children, or had living parents. Intestacy—the default estate distribution schematic—can be modified through estate planning.
Scenario 1: Single—No Children—Living Parents
The estate of an unmarried decedent without children would pass entirely to his parents.
Scenario...
It’s the fundamental question that arises in estate and legacy planning. Should I have a will or revocable living trust? The answer to this question is crucial to estate planning. Its answer informs the very building block of a workable plan. Your goals—whether asset protection, Medicaid planning, business continuity, spousal protection, etc.—cannot be addressed until you have reached a decision on your plan’s “anchor instrument.” Every estate plan is anchored by a core document from which other components of the plan proceed. This instrument is either a will or a revocable living trust. This article explores the pros and cons of each type of plan.
Many people...
Categories
Estate Property: Probate or Non-Probate?
An estate plan is not a stack of documents. At its heart, estate planning involves arranging one’s property and affairs for use during life and disposition after death. A person’s “gross estate” generally includes two types of property: probate and non-probate. This article provides a brief overview of these two approaches to property distribution after death.
Probate property refers to assets that must pass through the Probate Court system before being distributed to heirs. A probate case begins when a person (usually a potential heir of the deceased) asks the Court to open a proceeding for the administration of a decedent’s estate. The Court will...