by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 30, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Protection, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, Income Tax, News & Commentary, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
The IRS has released Revenue Procedure 2024-40, which specifies annual inflation adjustments for tax year 2025. Some highlights: Gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption amounts: $13.99 million (up from $13.61 million) Annual gift tax exclusion (IRC...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 30, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Charity, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, Income Tax, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) planning can be quite complex, and the expenses involved usually are justified only with a very large gift to charity, well north of a million. Practically speaking most of this planning is tax-driven and must be to make it feasible,...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 27, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Protection, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, Income Tax, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
There seems to be a misconception among some California estate planning attorneys that BDOT planning (BDOT stands for Beneficiary Deemed Owner Trust; also called a 678 trust, named after IRC §678) is inconsistent with, and should never be used with, a trust designed...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 20, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Dying Embarrassed, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, GunLaw.Pro, Honor, Income Tax, Life, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
At the beginning of this year, the California Uniform Directed Trust Act (CUDTA) went into effect, codified in Probate Code §§ 16600-16632. It was a long time coming, having been first proposed back in 2010 by our state bar’s trust and estate section. When it...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 17, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Business Succession, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, GunLaw.Pro, Honor, Income Tax, Life, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin, Venture Protection
Six years ago I posted this article proposing use of an advanced planning technique known as the Health and Education Exclusion Trust (HEET) to leave a dynastic legacy of firearm training. Such a trust might be called a Gun HEET. The Fall of the Republic and...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 10, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blended Families, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Business Succession, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Career Maintenance, Career Preparation, Charity, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, GunLaw.Pro, Health Planning, Honor, Incapacity Planning, Income Tax, Life, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Pet Protection, Property Tax, Punishment, Regulatory Compliance, Religious Faith, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin, Venture Protection
[Central Coast residents: You can safely ignore this article because we are here to help you with comprehensive planning.] Most of our local clients prefer to have the first meeting in person at our office in Morro Bay. After that initial meeting, many of these local...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 1, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Fortune, Honor, Life, News & Commentary, Punishment, Religious Faith, Spendthrift Children
I’ve written several times lately on disinheritance and more benign alternatives to disinheritance. There is definitely a trend afoot toward greater disinheritance. I’ve noticed this trend in comments from colleagues on our estate planning attorney online...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 1, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Career Maintenance, Career Preparation, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Fortune, Honor, Life, News & Commentary, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
There is a wonderful recent story about a Minnesota family that has baptized 27 babies over three generations with a baptismal gown made from the World War II parachute that saved grandpa’s life! I’m always coming up with analogies for trusts and often use...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | May 26, 2022 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Career Maintenance, Career Preparation, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Fortune, Honor, Life, Religious Faith, Spendthrift Children
I stole the title of this post from a great Babylon Bee article that just came out. For those who don’t know, Babylon Bee is satire. Strangely, their satirical articles often do come true. And this particular title hews closely enough to family settings often...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 31, 2022 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Fortune, Income Tax, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
The Beneficiary Deemed Owner Trust (BDOT) is one of several options to consider for “trusted beneficiaries” (pun intended) to whom you are open to giving some access to trust income and/or principal. (Another option might be the Beneficiary Controlled...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 3, 2022 | Blog, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Firearm Legacy, GunLaw.Pro, Probate Admin, Spendthrift Children, Trust Admin
This critique of the 2022 (9th) edition of “California Gun Laws” by C.D. “Chuck” Michel and Matthew D. Cubeiro is not a critique of the entire book, but only a small portion consisting of two sections, Section 3 (“Operation of Law”...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 30, 2019 | Asset Protection, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
Dear Clients and Students, On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act). The SECURE Act, which is effective January 1, 2020. The Act is the most impactful legislation affecting...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 19, 2018 | Asset Protection, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
California recently (9/14/18) joined a few other states that have enacted the Uniform Trust Decanting Act. A lot of states have decanting statutes, several dozen in fact, but they vary greatly and this uniform act is more restrictive than those in some of the more...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 14, 2018 | Archived, Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Spendthrift Children
You’ve heard a lot about asset protection in recent years — why so much talk about asset protection? We’ll focus on this topic at our Family Protection Clinic (aka estate planning seminar) lunch meeting on Tuesday, January 30, 2018. (Our weekly seminar...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 13, 2018 | Archived, Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
For many families, a large portion of the estate rests in a retirement plan which, on its own and without further planning, is essentially a separate estate plan with assets left completely unprotected. How do you protect and preserve the inheritance of retirement...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 23, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Spendthrift Children
A huge sea change in California asset protection law is sending assets to sanctuary states, like Nevada, more willing to protect those assets than creditor-friendly California. That other states better protect funds in self-settled trusts is old news. Many states,...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jul 22, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Spendthrift Children
SCOCA has ruled that a creditor/predator can reach up to the entire amount of trust sums due and payable to a beneficiary, plus up to 25% of specified future payments, underscoring the crucial value of having trustees with full discretion over distributions....
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | May 17, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Spendthrift Children
“Great wealth transfer” has joined “silver tsunami” in the lexicon of aging America. It refers to the wave of wealth, estimated to be in the trillions, which will flow from the oldest generation in the coming decades. Yet evidence suggests that many Americans...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | May 15, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
Just so we’re clear — I don’t sell IRA’s, I draft trusts, including the type that will make your IRA’s actually work as intended. Read the article, but keep in mind that although “trusteed IRAs” are an improvement over the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 23, 2017 | Asset Protection, Career Preparation, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Spendthrift Children
Are 72 virgins really enough? What if they turn out to be 72 Virginians? If you are bound and determined to blow yourself into smithereens or commit some other irrevocable act of terror, at least buy some life insurance so your (surviving) descendants can live like...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 23, 2017 | Asset Protection, Career Preparation, Estate Planning, Spendthrift Children
Among 25- to 34-year-olds living at home, one in four is neither enrolled in school nor working Source: A Quarter of Millennials Who Live at Home Don’t Work — or Study – Bloomberg
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 11, 2017 | Asset Protection, Career Preparation, Creditors & Predators, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Spendthrift Children
Regardless of the tax implications, there are several nontax reasons to set up a dynasty trust. First, you can designate the beneficiaries of the trust assets spanning multiple generations. Typically, you might provide for the assets to follow a line of...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 8, 2017 | Asset Protection, Income Tax, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
IRA stretch is great in theory, but your beneficiary can withdraw the principal at any time and there is no asset protection. As an estate planning attorney, I can make the stretch real by using an asset-protected standalone IRA Beneficiary Trust, separate from...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 10, 2017 | Business Succession, Career Maintenance, Career Preparation, Charity, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, Punishment, Religious Faith, Spendthrift Children
Good discussion of incentive trust planning: Many subjects that serve as substantial planning motivators aren’t found on client questionnaires and are frequently absent from planning discussions. Source: The Other Reasons For Estate Planning (Well actually, we...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 3, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Financial Mentorship, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children
Luck all around, despite the bad planning. Carrie had formal next of kin, daughter Billie Lourd, who inherits the house, the money and presumably the French bulldog even if the outspoken and occasionally erratic actress forgot to leave a valid will behind....
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 2, 2017 | Asset Protection, Charity, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
While it’s important that charities and their staff understand how to match various tools, such as charitable remainder trusts (CRTs), charitable lead trusts (CLTs), charitable gift annuities and other gift plans with the needs of their donors, which may...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 2, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Health Planning, Probate Admin, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Trust Admin
He has outlived all 10 of his siblings as well as his four wives, the last of whom died in 1988. All of his children have also died, and now he is survived by his grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. Source: World’s oldest...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 8, 2016 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Spendthrift Children
During the 1930s, there was a spike in the number of trusts created as wealthy families responded to steep increases in federal gift and estate tax rates. These trusts are now approaching mandatory termination dates and advisors must consider how best to help...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jul 26, 2016 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Spendthrift Children
As parents, our clients want the best for their children, perhaps especially when those children become adults. Learning good financial habits can be central to a successful and independent adulthood. Yet, most young adults feel they’re thrown into the world without...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jun 8, 2016 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
Here are the six primary benefits of a lifetime discretionary trust: 1. Protection From Liabilities An inheritance that goes directly into the beneficiary’s pocket is readily available to pay the beneficiary’s liabilities from a car accident, in bankruptcy, or after a...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Aug 18, 2014 | Creditors & Predators, Firearm Legacy, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
An irrevocable inter vivos trust (IRT) is a trust created during the settlor’s lifetime, over which settlor retains no power to alter, amend or revoke. Although RLT’s typically become irrevocable on the settlor’s death, they are not called irrevocable trusts. Trusts...