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Simply because the instrument governing your trust states that it is irrevocable and cannot be amended does not mean it cannot be modified to serve your family’s needs in a better fashion. Delaware law offers an array of options—administrative amendment, decanting, a nonjudicial settlement agreement, consent modification, trust merger, and judicial...

Irrevocable trusts are a great way to minimize estate taxes and keep more of your wealth in the family, but they require you to permanently give up ownership and control of the assets you place in them. For people who are hesitant about the irrevocable aspect of the trust, there is the spousal lifetime access trusts, or SLAT, that can be an excelle...

During this interview, attorney Jason Kohout shares the legal developments and highlights from his panel discussion on the regulatory, trust, tax, and estate planning update at the Family Office and Wealth Advisor Forum. Discover what to watch out for, what to stop worrying about, and what you should consider doing to protect your fa...

For a business owner considering the sale of their business, there are two competing goals: maximizing the proceeds from the sale and minimizing the transfer taxes that will be due on the owner’s enhanced estate. With additional insights, Warner Partner Beth O’Laughlin discusses possible ways to accomplish both of these goals through gi...

In collaboration with a consortium of interested parties, including Holland & Knight attorneys, the Tennessee legislature has made significant strides toward securing and maintaining the state’s status as one of the leading jurisdictions for trust administration. These efforts have resulted in more consequential improvements to the Tennes...

There are few matters of wealth management more fraught with tension than estate planning. Preparing to transfer wealth and assets to your heirs can involve emotions, family dynamics, legal structures, and a host of major and complex tax implications. The challenges around succession planning are also exacerbated because of the so-called Great Weal...

Once you have decided to pass the family vacation property to the next generation, and you have chosen the ownership form you want to use, the last step in preparing for the transfer is to create an agreement that spells out the use and maintenance of the property and governs a family member’s exit from ownership (if that becomes necessary). Learn ...

Once a family has made a decision to pass the ownership of family cottage or vacation property to the next generation, you will need to give thought to how that ownership will be held. There are basically three options for the form of ownership and use of a cottage by multiple households of a family: co-tenancy, a trust, or a limited liability comp...

When families gather at their cottages or vacation properties, the senior generation might think how nice it would be for these multi-generational gatherings to continue after they pass. But before designing an estate plan to address the future generations’ continued use and enjoyment of this property, there are two important questio...

With the rise of the Tax Strategist, a trend is taking shape past the normal tax planning: Tax leaders who use a strategic approach are becoming key contributors to driving positive business performance. To uncover what’s behind this trend, tax executives were surveyed about their involvement in overall decision-making, as well as their top p...

While it might seem like a great position to hold a concentrated position in a low-basis stock that has appreciated over time, it poses several challenges related to investment risk and taxes. Here are some charitable options for lowering your risk while doing the most good with your gains, whether that means giving to a worthy cause, gifting to a ...

While the tax environment has become more complex for businesses, there are opportunities to minimize their tax burden on the state and local level. In this 10-minute interview, attorney Lynn Gandhi of Foley & Lardner’s Tax group joins Brian Lucareli to discuss the impact of state and local taxes such as state income taxes, sales and use ...

When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was passed in late 2017, the “sunsetting” of many of the provisions in 2026 seemed far away. Among those of benefit to high-net-worth individuals was the increasing of the gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions to $11.18 million per person ($22.36 million for married couples) for 2018. The...

It may seem that there will always be time to address estate planning. However, a unique opportunity to maximize the amount of wealth that can be tax-efficiently passed to heirs will expire at the end of 2025. Furthermore, legislation could curb lifetime exemption limits even sooner. The opportunity is even more pressing because the current market ...

Residents in 43 states pay state income tax, with the highest rate being 13.3%. When combined with the top federal marginal tax rate and the net investment income tax, residents subject to the highest state income tax rate could face a total levy of 54.1% of income. As a result, those residents are interested in finding ways to mitigate the tax. An...