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

Congratulations, you just signed your Will and your Revocable Trust.  You set out clear directions on how your assets should pass at your death.  Your heirs will be grateful.  But there is more you can do to ease the burden of estate administration – you can fund your Revocable Trust while you are alive. Set

A directed trust is a sophisticated planning technique that divides the traditional duties of a trustee among more than one person or institution.  Unlike a standard trust with multiple co-trustees, all of whom would share the same duties, a directed trust makes each “trust director” responsible for a different type of task on behalf of

Life insurance can be a valuable estate planning tool for generational wealth planning, creating liquidity and time diversification. On this week’s episode, Michael Clear and special guest Sarah Moore, Director of Advisor Relations at the Coyle Company, a firm that handles estate planning and business planning matters, discuss the importance of reviewing existing life insurance

Ready to kick off the New Year and make good on all those estate planning resolutions? On this first episode of 2024, Partners Erin Nicholls and Michael Clear highlight the estate planning opportunities resulting from changes in estate, gift and generation-skipping tax exemptions and discuss why 2024 is a good year to consider making big

A personal residence can be an ideal asset to gift to a properly designed trust for your descendants or other beneficiaries.

The basic concept is deceptively simple:  Parent establishes an irrevocable trust for the benefit of children, thereby locking in use of Parent’s lifetime gift exemption as a hedge against a reduction in the exemption

GRATs Allow Transfer of Wealth Outside Your Estate With Minimal or No Gift Tax

Now is a good time to consider wealth transfer strategies that remove assets from your taxable estate.  A common strategy is a grantor retained annuity trust, commonly referred to as a GRAT.

Description. A GRAT is a strategy that freezes the

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

Highlighted by In re Marriage of Daon and Stewart

With educational expenses on the rise, planning for your children’s education while they are still young is usually advisable. Many families find that a “section 529 education savings plan,” or more commonly known as a “529 plan,” works well for this purpose, but there are potential