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Facebook Founders Use GRATs to Avoid Excessive Taxation; You Can Too
News sources recently revealed that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg—as well as other Facebook top brass—use Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts to protect their assets and investments from excessive taxation. Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (more commonly called GRATs) are a perfectly legal—and very efficient—way to protect and pass significant assets from one person to another without incurring […]
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Transfer of Home Ownership Does Not Replace an Estate Plan
Imagine this: You’re retired, your only significant asset is your home, you’re very close to your child or children, and you don’t want the cost of creating an estate plan. In such cases, what’s the harm of simply putting your home in the name of your child to avoid probate and then be done with […]
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An Estate Plan Can Highlight Religious Values… Within Limits
All parents hope to pass their values onto their children; and of the many values they hope to pass on religion and spirituality often tops the list. In some cases, religious values are so important to a parent that they will even include mention of these values in their estate plan. Our firm strongly believes […]
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Estate Plan Forgery: How to Tell and What to Do
The question of will forgery or undue influence of a testator is not a common question, but one that does come up periodically in an estate planner’s office. The movies have given people certain expectations when it comes to a death in the family and probating a will: a book-lined office, the entire family assembled […]
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How Do You Know If You Need An Estate Plan?
Most people know that they should execute some kind of estate plan eventually, but don’t think that they actually need one right now. On our blog we spend a lot of time telling people that they do need an estate plan, and that they need one right now—or as soon as possible! But it’s not […]
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Providing for Pets in Your Will or Trust
According to a recent article on BusinessInsider.com, there are some surprising new figures about American households and their pets. “In 2011, Americans spent a record $50.8 billion on pets, according to the American Pet Products Association. We share our homes with an estimated 86 million cats, 78 million dogs, 16 million birds and 160 million […]
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How to Ensure Your Valuable Antiques Don’t End Up in Someone’s Yard Sale
Have you seen Antiques Roadshow? It’s a PBS television show in which antique experts travel around the country to critique and appraise antiques brought in by local people. Quite often on the show, someone will bring in an old knick-knack they found in grandma’s attic, only to find out it’s actually worth hundreds or thousands […]
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3 Steps to Help Protect Your Family and Your Future in 2024
We all want to ensure our loved ones are protected and provided for, but sometimes the process of doing so can appear overwhelming, and prevent you from even taking the first steps. When it comes to protecting your family and your future with an estate plan, the process can actually be as easy as 1… […]
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Long Term Care Insurance Is Tax Deductible for Business Owners
By now most people, when planning for their “Golden Years”, know that they need to consider the possibility that they may need long-term care at some point in time, and that long-term care insurance is a logical option for this purpose. What most people don’t know is that if you are self-employed or own your […]
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Could A Trust Be Good For Your Family?
The answer to the title question is that just about every family can benefit from a trust. The rich and famous tend to utilize trusts because of the privacy they provide, the long-term asset protection, the tax benefits, and their flexibility; but each and every family, regardless of fame or income, can reap the exact […]
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