Mississippi Medicaid Estate Recovery and Homestead Protection

If you’ve ever owned a home in Mississippi, you are probably familiar with the concept of homestead exemption, if for no other reason than to reduce the amount of ad valorum (property) taxes you pay each year. While filing for the homestead exemption in Mississippi does provide the benefit of reducing these taxes, its main…
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Threading the Needle – The Utility and Structural Requirements of ING Trusts

Estate planners and tax practitioners have been utilizing incomplete non-grantor trusts, or “ING” trusts, with increased frequency. ING trusts can be utilized for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to, federal income tax planning,[1] asset protection, planning for qualified small business stock benefits, income shifting through distributions to descendants, and others. While this…
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Mississippi Medicaid Estate Recovery

None of us know how long we are going to live. This uncertainty makes planning for long term care a daunting task, especially since the average cost of a nursing home in Mississippi is over $7,000 a month.[1] Some may have purchased long-term care insurance to cover most of these costs. For many individuals, applying…
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When Asset Protection Planning Goes Wrong – Yegiazaryan v. Smagin

In asset protection planning, sometimes things go as planned. Other times, they go horribly wrong. The United States Supreme Court just issued its opinion in Yegiazaryan v. Smagin[1] which illustrates one situation where the debtor finds himself facing the potential treble damages due to alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”).…
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Your Estate Plan and Life Insurance – A Complementing Pair

It is estimated that approximately 52% of all Americans have some form of life insurance. On the other hand, there are also estimates that only 27% percent of Americans have some form of an estate plan in place. This article provides a brief and simple overview of how the two are not mutually exclusive, and…
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Where Should You form Your New LLC – Creditors’ Rights?

Clients often ask where they should form a new legal entity to obtain the best creditor protection. Blogs, marketing materials, and similar items often tout one or another jurisdiction as the best place to form legal entities. It certainly is the case that state laws differ. One of those areas is in “charging order” protections…
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Can the IRS Levy on Trust Assets?

Most people believe that assets held in trust for their benefit, at least to the extent the trust assets were left in trust by a third party (such as, for example, a parent), to be exempt from the claims of their creditors. As a general rule, this belief is well founded. However, as for claims…
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Is a Revocable Trust a Trust (and Related Topics)?

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has recently issued an opinion that discusses a number of topics especially important to asset protection and trust attorneys.[1] Some of the issues discussed involve trust law, tax law, asset protection law, and contract law. As recognized in the dissent, the court’s conclusions on a number of these issues…
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Incomplete Non-Grantor Trusts: A Tax Planning Tool

In recent years, estate planners and tax practitioners have been utilizing incomplete non-grantor trusts, or ING trusts, with increased frequency. The most common use of ING trusts has been to minimize state income taxes, but an often-overlooked aspect of ING trusts is their effectiveness as a tax planning tool at the federal level. ING trusts…
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Advanced SLAT Issues

In a previous article, we discussed the basics of Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (“SLATs”).[1] Generally, SLATs are irrevocable trusts established by one spouse during such spouse’s lifetime with the other spouse being a beneficiary of the trust. Often both spouses will establish a SLAT, but they must be carefully structured and administered to prevent application…
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