Category: Blog
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CTA is Back On (Redux)
Yesterday, in Smith v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, et al., 6:24-cv-00336 (E.D. Texas), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas stayed its order dated January 7, 2025, which […]
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Are you Still Considering the Source?
Remember those school days, whether in elementary or college, when the teacher’s voice echoed, “Consider your sources”? Now, even in the legal profession, that advice still rings true, albeit for […]
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Third-Party Pooled Special Needs Trust Topics to Discuss with Your Client
This article outlines third-party special needs trust topics to discuss with your client; such as Disability, Reviewing the Joinder Agreement, Funding the Sub-Account, and more.
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Expanding Your Practice: The Vital Role of Elder Law and Medicaid Planning
As an estate planning attorney, your primary goal is to help clients’ wishes be fulfilled should they lose capacity and then preserve their legacy after they pass away. However, an essential, yet often overlooked, aspect of this protection is planning for their long-term care while they’re still alive. According to the U.S. Department of Health…
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Beware of a Spousal Rights Trap That “May Be” in a Revocable Trust
For years, I have been counselling clients as to who should have a revocable trust without ever thinking of a serious trap for the unwary. But as can happen, even after many decades of practice, you encounter clients whose circumstances make you rethink what you thought you knew and re-evaluate the sufficiency of your checklists.…
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Finally Final SECURE Regulations
Last week, the IRS issued the long-awaited final regulations implementing the changes made by the SECURE Act. The regulations take effect 60 days from the date on which they were published (the publication date is July 19, 2024) and certain provisions apply for purposes of determining required minimum distributions for calendar years beginning on or…
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FinCEN Updates its Beneficial Ownership Information FAQ Page
FinCEN updates its Beneficial Ownership Information FAQ page, stating “Trust arrangements vary,” and explaining how the rules apply when there is a corporate trustee. On April 18, 2024, FinCEN updated its Beneficial Ownership Information Frequently Asked Questions page to include new questions concerning beneficial ownership through trusts, application of the rules to corporate trustees, and…
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Estate Planning Excellence: The ACE Roadmap to Success
The list of things they teach you in law school is long. We know how to read a case, how to draft a brief, and how to craft an argument. We know how to issue spot. We know how to “think like a lawyer”. The list of things they don’t teach you in law school,…
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Always Learning
I was new to estate planning in the early nineties, and I was reminded recently that even though it may seem like the nineties were ten years ago (and it truly does, to me), they were thirty years ago. Some of you reading this were born in the nineties. My reference is only to point…
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New FinCEN Proposed Reporting Regulations for Residential Real Estate and a New Development Regarding the Corporate Transparency Act
On February 16, 2024, FinCEN published new proposed anti-money laundering regulations for certain residential real estate transfers. These proposed regulations may be easy to overlook; however, trusts and estates practitioners should keep an eye on them.
