In an ever-evolving landscape, it’s crucial to audit an estate plan and ensure it keeps pace with your life. On this episode, Partners Erin Nicholls and Michael Clear dive into the importance of revisiting your estate plan, examining the impact of changes in asset levels, evolving inter-personal relationships, relocating to a new state, and changes
With summer swiftly approaching, many families will be celebrating high school graduations and making plans to send those children off to college. But many are not prepared for the reality that parents lose their ability to access health and financial information related to their children after those children become young adults. Parents, therefore, may find
On this episode, join Partners Erin Nicholls and Michael Clear as they dive into a discussion on jurisdiction selection in the context of advanced planning strategies. What does it mean to select a jurisdiction when establishing a trust and what benefits are available when considering one jurisdiction over another? Erin and Michael address these questions
On this episode, join Partners Dan Daniels and Michael Clear as they discuss the importance of educating the next generation on estate planning matters. From the protection of assets in cases of divorce or litigation, to aligning a child’s assumptions with reality, you will gain insight on how best to structure a family meeting and
On this episode, join Partners Erin Nicholls and Michael Clear as they discuss mechanisms we have at our disposal to “fix” an irrevocable trust. The use of decanting, which is traditionally thought of as moving all the assets of one trust to a new trust, is one such mechanism. With the adoption of the Uniform
On this episode, join Partners Erin Nicholls and Michael Clear as they discuss key considerations when addressing Generation-Skipping Transfer (GST) Tax. With a particular focus on interesting planning opportunities and things to look out for when addressing GST tax, Erin and Michael emphasize the importance of thinking strategically about GST tax and its effects on
On this episode, join Partners Michael Clear and Vanessa Maczko as they discuss estate planning considerations for digital assets, which often require special attention when compared to more traditional assets, like real property and marketable securities. For example, sentimental digital assets (such as social media accounts, email, photos on your computer or cell phone), may
On this episode, join Partners Erin Nicholls and Michael Clear as they discuss strategies for preserving family legacy assets across generations. With a particular focus on the management and division of interests in real property, such as family compounds and homesteads, Erin and Michael discuss considerations related to carrying costs, ownership structures, bloodline protection and
On this episode, join Partners Erin Nicholls and Michael Clear as they delve deeper into a discussion on creating SLATs for married clients to use up both clients’ lifetime exemption amounts, while also reducing the likelihood of the imposition of the Reciprocal Trust Doctrine by the IRS. Citing several examples, Erin and Michael provide strategies
On this episode, join Partners Erin Nicholls and Michael Clear as they discuss one of the hottest topics in the estate planning world, spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs), and the implications of using SLATs in a post-Tax Cuts and Jobs Act world. Focusing primarily on maximizing the use of one’s lifetime exemption amount and removing