President Trump has signed a spending bill that makes major changes to retirement plans. The new law is designed to provide more incentives to save for retirement, but it may require workers to rethink some of their planning. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act changes the law surrounding retirement plans in several ways: Read Full Article
Article Category Estate Planning
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) is now officially law. Both the House and Senate passed the new tax reform bill in December with straight party-line votes and no support from Democrats. President Trump signed it into law right before Christmas. It is the first overhaul of the tax code in more than 30 Read Full Article
Q. Back in 2001, my husband and I created a Living Trust with provisions to avoid estate tax upon our passing. I believe it is called an A-B Trust. When my husband died two years later, my attorney helped me divide the trust assets between the A and the B portions. The problem: my CPA just Read Full Article
Q. My IRA is a significant part of my assets, and I wonder if there are any special considerations when planning my affairs? Name Beneficiaries: Remember to name both primary and contingent beneficiaries. If you are married, the primary beneficiary would typically be your spouse, but name back-up beneficiaries as well. If you and your Read Full Article
Q. My wife and I hold title to her home as joint tenants, and most of our cash assets are in the form of two large IRA accounts and one big annuity. We have basic wills which leave everything to the other and then on to our children. Our son suggested that our wills may Read Full Article
By Gene L. Osofsky, Esq. * An Earlier draft of this article was first published in the Legal Network News of the California Advocates For Nursing Home Reform, Volume 23 No. 2, Summer 2012. It was designed for Elder Law attorneys practicing in California. ———— Bypass Trusts Pose Special Problems for Medi-Cal Planning By Gene L. Read Full Article