The government has come up with a “permanent” estate tax solution. Does that mean you can get rid of your family limited partnerships and LLCs? What about your irrevocable trusts? There are a lot of good reasons for them! Today we will hit on a few reasons why you should keep your family limited partnerships […]

Our office did a lot of advanced estate planning late in the year. We helped clients give away tens of MILLIONS of dollars, without tax, through mediums such as family limited liability companies (FLPs), irrevocable trusts, and tenancy in common agreements.  Most experts thought the January 1, 2013 date would come with a lower gift […]

I was just reading about a new California case that cut into the asset protection world a little bit.  It’s the case of Kilker v. Stillman, 2012 WL 5902348 (Cal.App. 4 Dist., Unpublished, Nov. 26, 2012). Asset protection, in most cases, is simply estate or asset planning that happens to include some protection elements to it. […]

I met with a client recently with family assets that would be perfect for a family LLC or FLP.  The client owned three properties with their siblings. There was a valuable home and two commercial properties.  Currently each sibling owned 1/3 and thus they are a de facto “general partnership.”  This is probably not the […]

Estate planning is not just about giving your stuff away when you die. It’s about giving your stuff away when you die in the most efficient manner possible and providing the best protections allowable to your loved ones. This is the most simple asset protection available. Anybody that does not include some form of trust […]

Estate planning is more than planning for after death. You can use trusts, and other entities, to create asset protection.  The key is planning AHEAD. Do not wait until you have a problem. Take reasonable precautions by planning ahead.  You can use revocable trusts to create creditor protection for your kids.  You can use irrevocable […]

Some things you can do to protect your assets for your family are easy to do and some are very difficult.  Why not do the easy ones? First of all you have to remember there are no simple magic trusts.  If there was a magic trust that insulated a person from creditors and liabilities most people would […]

The federal bankruptcy Court recently came out with a big ruling in the asset protection world. It’s called the “Mortensen case” or more officially known as: Battley v. Mortensen, Adv. D.Alaska, No. A09-90036-DMD, May 26, 2011 (Original Memorandum) and July 18, 2011 (Memorandum Denying Motion For Reconsideration). In this case Mr. Mortensen set up an […]

Let me start by saying there is no magic trust. As I often tell clients if there was a magic creditor protection trust we could all get one, stop paying for car insurance, and leave reckless lives. Not saying we all would but a lot of people would. Though there is no magic trust there […]

I am preparing some notes for a presentation I am making next week to some CFP students at UC Davis Extension. I have taught the whole 10 week class, in estate planning,  before.  This time I will be a guest lecturer in the tax class for CFP students. I will talking about the taxation of […]