Inter Vivos QTIP Trusts: A Strategic Estate and Asset Protection Planning Option

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Estate planning requires the careful balancing of family priorities with tax and asset protection concerns, and the tools available to practitioners to address these priorities and concerns change over time amid legislative reforms and judicial determinations. Among the tools available to practitioners, the inter vivos Qualified Terminable Interest Property trust, aka the inter vivos “QTIP”…
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Loss of Deceased Spouse Unused Exclusion

Estate Administration, Estate and Gift Tax, Fiduciaries, Regulatory, Revenue Procedures, Tax, Tax Controversy, Tax Court

In a recent case out of the Tax Court, a surviving spouse’s Estate was denied the portability of the Deceased Spouse’s Unused Exclusion (“DSUE”) from the decedent’s spouse who had passed away two years before the survivor.[1] The Estate Tax Return (“706”) for the decedent’s spouse, while filed,  was not “complete and properly prepared” and…
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Pierce Valuation Case

Income Tax, Tax, Tax Controversy, Tax Court

Often, the value of assets can determine tax consequences. This applies in a number of areas including charitable donations, asset allocation on sale transactions, income tax on liquidation of a corporation, gift tax, and estate tax. Because the value of assets determines the amount of tax payable in these and other situations, it is critically…
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Trust and Estate Beneficiary’s Right to Information Under Mississippi Law

Estate Administration, Estate and Trust Controversy

Clients often ask about the protections that their children and/or other beneficiaries of their estate plan possess, particularly when discussing their fiduciary appointments and the safeguards in place to ensure such fiduciary fulfills their duties to the beneficiaries. While the specific discussion and citations in this article are limited to rights of beneficiaries in Mississippi,…
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Death of Grantor: Conversion of LLC to Tax Partnership

Estate Planning, Income Tax

Common in estate and trust planning is the gift or sale of assets to an irrevocable grantor trust[1] structured to be outside of the grantor’s taxable estate.[2] Often, such gifts or sales are made of interests in family entities such as LLC’s.[3] These entities can provide significant non-tax benefits including consolidation of assets, centralized management,…
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Alternative Dispute Resolution in Estates and Trusts in Mississippi

Estate Administration, Estate and Trust Controversy, Estate Planning, Fiduciaries

Litigation involving estates and trusts, while sometimes impossible to avoid, is usually exhausting to all parties involved, especially given that such litigation is often among family members and/or is following the death of a loved one. Alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) is an alternative to traditional litigation, encompassing various methodologies, including mediation and arbitration, aimed at…
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