Incapacity may be sudden, such as a car accident, or the result of a gradual decline, such as Parkinson’s Disease or dementia. It may happen at any phase of your life. Being prepared by authorizing others to act for you is key to making sure your wishes are respected, and your finances are secure.
I know: You expect an estate-planning attorney to be all in favor of Wills. It is absolutely true that you need documents to protect your assets and take care of your loved ones if you are no longer around, but as you’ll read in the USA Today article that follows, a Will isn’t always the best answer.
There is a growing trend in the United States to choose green “death care” options. My clients bring this up more frequently these days. They are choosing to put this in their estate planning documents as their plan of choice. The term “Green Burial” means that the body is buried, but there is no embalming of the body, no liners or vaults, using biodegradable containers, whether caskets, shrouds, or nothing at all. The Green Burial Council (GBC), a non-profit organization that encourages environmentally sound burials, states that “Green burial is a way of caring for the dead with minimal environmental impact that furthers ecological aims such as the conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and the restoration and/or preservation of a habitat.”
The cases start all over the country and leave a trail of misery and disappointment:
At the end of 2025, unless action is taken by Congress before that date, the federal estate tax exclusion amount is going to “sunset”. That means that it may nosedive to half of the current amount of $13,160,000. Most estate planning professionals predict that the exclusion will drop to around $7 million. That means that everyone who has been relying on the $13 million exclusion amount may suddenly find themselves with estate tax liability. The people that would be affected are those of single individuals with assets over $7 million or married couples with assets more than $14 million but less than $25 million.
How’s this for a deal: “Estate plans starting at $199!” Plug a few names and other details into web-based templates, and suddenly, you have a will! Powers of attorney! Even a trust! Of course, easy is appealing, and the bargain-basement price is tempting.
Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts (also known as CRATs) have been blessed by IRS since 1970. So why is the IRS now proposing to make CRATs reportable with your individual tax return with hefty penalties for not reporting? The short answer is due to the abuse of this income tax and estate tax planning tool. The long answer is a bit more complicated.
Up until now, a domestic partner was treated essentially as a legal stranger in an intestate estate (one without a Will) and had only a limited exemption from inheritance taxes in the State of Maryland.
Creating a power of attorney can give you peace of mind by empowering someone you trust to manage your affairs on your behalf in certain situations. McMillan Metro Faerber’s DMV area. attorneys have helped many of our clients create individualized powers of attorney that meet their unique needs.