by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | May 31, 2022 | Asset Protection, Blog, Business Succession, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Limitation of Liability, Probate Admin, Venture Protection
The limited liability company (LLC) is a popular business structure that offers liability protection and avoidance of double taxation. Trusts are popular asset transfer vehicles that allow you to avoid probate and keep assets out of the hands of creditors. By placing...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 4, 2022 | Blog, Estate Admin, Trust Admin
Even simple estate plans can fail if the revocable trust is not properly funded, especially with all real estate owned by decedent. If the decedent’s real estate is not properly transferred to trust, then unless there are other viable options (like an expensive...
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 | Sep 24, 2021 | Blog, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, GunLaw.Pro
Check out our radio ad! Click here: Script: Ronald Reagan warned us: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” Your family can beat the odds with a F.I.R.S.T. Family Trust. Developed by Central Coast attorney Dave Duringer, the Firearm...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Aug 3, 2021 | Blog, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, GunLaw.Pro
The well-respected Recoil Magazine published an article of mine in their latest issue, which went on sale last week. Whoopee! Except they cut out my main point (!) and since i wrote the entire article submission to support that point, it reads like a jumbled...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 3, 2020 | Estate Planning, Trust Admin
UPDATE: After a week of turmoil, looks like the mortgage bond market has stabilized a bit and mortgage loans on properties held in trusts are again saleable in the secondary market. Sanity has returned for now, at least while the market is taking whatever...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 4, 2019 | Estate Admin, Estate Planning
Our clients are warned not to make handwritten changes to the trust instrument, and the recent case of Pena v Dey illustrates why: Summary: Where the trust expressly required that amendments be made by a signed writing, handwritten interlineations on a trust...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 4, 2019 | Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, GunLaw.Pro, Incapacity Planning
Enactment of AB 1292 has made estate planning much easier for California gun owners. Read our in-depth article here before access is restricted to members...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jul 15, 2019 | Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, GunLaw.Pro, Incapacity Planning
UPDATE: See link below this article for updated analysis. *** When Governor Newsom approved AB 1292 on July 12, he made estate planning easier for California gun owners. Why would Sacramento Democrats make death easier for us? I can only speculate, but I’m guessing...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 7, 2019 | Estate Planning, Trust Admin
For years, cryptocurrency owners have focused on coin security. Many of our clients protect their coins and accounts from online hackers through offline storage and complex passwords that are memorized but never written down. A recent Canadian bankruptcy filing...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 3, 2018 | Estate Admin, Probate Admin, Trust Admin
Insolvent estates happen and are full of minefields for all involved: Begin With a Plan When faced with such an estate, the advisor should meet with the executor and together they should set out a plan for success. The plan should include a beginning inventory...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jul 22, 2017 | Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Income Tax, Probate Admin, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
Rev. Proc. 2017-34 SECTION 1. PURPOSE This revenue procedure provides a simplified method for certain taxpayers to obtain an extension of time under § 301.9100-3 of the Procedure and Administration Regulations to make a “portability” election under §...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jul 15, 2017 | Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, Trust Admin
I am often asked by professional fiduciaries whether they need to have a Firearm Safety Certificate (FSC) for the work they do. Professional fiduciaries are subject to the same penal code as lay fiduciaries so the answer is yes, generally, fiduciaries (whether...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | May 17, 2017 | Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Probate Admin, Trust Admin
The trusts I draft are usually pretty thick, thicker than clients expect. But no matter how thick the trust, the plan can fail if spouses are not in agreement on the underlying character of the property (separate or community). This might have been the case with the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 8, 2017 | Estate Admin, Probate Admin, Trust Admin
In Georgia, generally, a constructive trust cannot be imposed on real property based solely on a broken verbal promise to hold or transfer the land for the benefit of another. However, a broken verbal promise may give rise to a constructive trust if it was...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 7, 2017 | Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Trust Admin
Tennessee recently updated its private family trust company (PFTC) laws in 2016 to expand both the family clients and family office employees that they can serve. These changes can help ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) families and family offices meet their needs....
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 2, 2017 | Asset Protection, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Trust Admin
Some states by statute have introduced into their trust jurisprudence the concept of the excluded fiduciary: In the case of a trust the terms of which allocate fiduciary functions between the trustee and, say, a trust protector, the trustee is an excluded...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 31, 2017 | Estate Admin, Estate Tax
Recently, in Estate of Kollsman v. Commissioner (T.C. Memo. 2017-40), the U.S. Tax Court held that an art collector’s estate significantly underreported the value of two artworks for estate tax purposes. The problem: the estate relied on appraisals by an...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 27, 2017 | Estate Admin, Estate Planning
Even though the Personal Status law of the UAE provides that foreigners may request the court for the application of their home country law, this law did not expressly amend the Civil Code of the country. This gave rise to the uncertainty of whether or not a...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 23, 2017 | Estate Admin, Probate Admin
The first is the preemption argument. The administrator argued that the discretion granted to him to elect portability under the terms of 26 U.S.C.A. 2010 trumped Oklahoma law concerning the fiduciary obligations owed by estate administrators to potential...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 13, 2017 | Trust Admin
As an attorney, you understand the value of a trust protector for an irrevocable trust. While “set in stone,” the trust still needs someone to watch over it and ensure it can adapt to changes in the law and/or resolve differences between trustees and...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 11, 2017 | Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Probate Admin, Trust Admin
Wow, what a ridiculous idea — ante-mortem probate! I have two simpler words that offer a better solution: “LIVING TRUST” What better way to gauge a testator’s true intent than a trust arrangement the testator lives with day in and day out,...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 5, 2017 | Estate Planning, Probate Admin
According to WealthCounsel’s recent inaugural Estate Planning Awareness Survey: Despite this direct knowledge of what can happen, 50% of respondents with a will believe that wills protect them from probate court after they pass away, and more than two-thirds (70%)...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 3, 2017 | Archived, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Probate Admin, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
Significant coverage was devoted at the recently concluded 51st Annual Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning in Orlando, Fla. to the Internal Revenue Service’s proposed regulations (proposed regs) concerning basis consistency and reporting for property...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 26, 2017 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Protection, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
Valid point, especially now that the estate tax beast so rarely bites and may soon be destroyed. The article points out a few reasons for having life insurance, but omits some important ones such as estate creation for young families. Thus, the biggest lie in...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 26, 2017 | Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
The Bespoke Trust Protector – Tailoring the Protector's Role from Matthew McClintock WealthCounsel VP Matt McClintock has been at the forefront in this cutting edge planning area — adapting the age-old concept of trust protector, commonly used in...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 26, 2017 | Archived, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Horror Stories, Probate Admin, Trust Admin
According to the article, Bowie admitted to being “incredibly promiscuous” — yikes, bad planning or no planning here to avoid pretermitted child claims. Anyone who believes they are David Bowie’s secret love child should make their case...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 25, 2017 | Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Trust Admin
A survey of fees charged by some major trust companies. Fees and minimums vary quite a bit. Trust fees are headed higher according to our pricing survey completed this week. Some firms work strictly from a rate card. Others decide what your client will pay when...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 10, 2017 | Estate Admin, Horror Stories, Probate Admin, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
This is an appeal of summary judgment by the personal representative (the “PR”) of an estate. The lower court found the PR to be personally liable under the federal priority statute, Section 3713, for tax liabilities due from an insolvent estate. Under the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 3, 2017 | Estate Admin, Probate Admin, Trust Admin
With certain exceptions and prior to June 1, 2015, the IRS issued an ETCL for every estate tax return filed. After that date, the IRS changed its policy and only issued such a letter upon formal request by an estate and not sooner than four months after the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 29, 2017 | Asset Protection, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Probate Admin, Trust Admin
By now, hopefully most people are aware that probate avoidance is one of the core benefits of a properly drafted and funded revocable trust, even one done by a trust mill that lacks the sort of comprehensive planning we do. Why is probate bad? Well, one of the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 29, 2017 | Asset Protection, Estate Admin, Estate Tax, Probate Admin, Tax Planning
Prince’s estate has until Saturday to file an estate tax payment for the late rock superstar, and the taxes are expected to ultimately swallow nearly half the estate’s estimated $200 million value, meaning a likely windfall of roughly $100 million for the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 29, 2017 | Estate Admin, Income Tax, Trust Admin
Income sprinkling is often a good strategy to avoid such high tax rates. In such a scenario, the income accumulated in a trust is distributed before December 31st of the year, and it is counted as income for the beneficiary. Unless the beneficiary is also in...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 15, 2017 | Archived, Asset Protection, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Income Tax, Probate Admin, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
Good advice in this article, but much of the uncertainty can be removed with thorough, comprehensive planning with an eye toward flexibility. For example, in our planning (http://Protect.LIFE), we offer not only the current flexibility of the Clayton election,...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 9, 2017 | Asset Protection, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Probate Admin, Trust Admin
Conduct due diligence. Always ask questions and conduct research to find out about the work of art’s history, as well as exhibition and literature citations prior to purchase. Ideally, a buyer should be able to trace the history of the painting all the way back...
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 28, 2016 | Estate Admin, Horror Stories, Probate Admin, Trust Admin
From a respected WealthCounsel colleague: The Good: The new TOD Deed Will be simple to use; Will be less expensive than creating a Living Trust; Will eliminate the time and expense of a probate; Will remain revocable during the lifetime of the grantor; and, Will...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 8, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Probate Admin
Estate planning is a cost of doing family. Failing to plan is an act of violence against family. New York (AFP) – A New Zealand man is the latest person to say he is pop icon Prince’s heir after a judge dismissed a series of other claims, court...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 27, 2016 | Estate Planning, Family Protection, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, GunLaw.Pro
[UPDATE: For the last three years (since August 2016) I have not generally recommended the lifetime funding of gun trusts in California. Passage of AB 1292 in July 2019 has significantly enabled and clarified use of gun trusts — however, there are limits under the new...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 31, 2016 | Asset Protection, Dying Embarrassed, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Probate Admin, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to go back and fix an estate plan before death or incapacity of the grantor? Protective Law Corporation will be very pleased to offer such post-mortem estate planning, and we will add it to our pricing sheet just as soon as the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 18, 2016 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Health Planning, Probate Admin
Lots of irony here, and perhaps some lessons. Famed local juvenile court judge who never had any children of her own, but has a building named after her that has housed probate court operations for the county, now has her estate tied up in probate court. Lamoreaux,...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 5, 2016 | Dying Embarrassed, Estate Planning, Horror Stories, Probate Admin
Sonny Bono’s estate planning was even more embarrassing than his death skiing into a tree. A political as well as pop figure, with some messy personal relationships, he should have had better planning — or at least some planning. But he had no will and of...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 5, 2016 | Asset Protection, Dying Embarrassed, Horror Stories, Probate Admin
Bob Marley’s estate continues to generate significant revenue decades after his death in 1981. Marley died intestate even though he knew he had cancer and lingered for nearly 8 months. Dozens fought over his estate, worth a reported $30 million. If attacked, do...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 2, 2016 | Dying Embarrassed, Estate Planning, Horror Stories, Probate Admin
Because he left no effective will or estate plan, Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s longtime partner was not entitled to the fortune from his Millennium series of books (and the movies based on them). He lived with Eva Gabrielsson for 30 of his short 50 years on...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 30, 2016 | Dying Embarrassed, Estate Planning, Horror Stories, Probate Admin
Amy Winehouse lived fast and died young — without a will or any other estate planning, of course. Moreover, parents pressured her to divorce her husband yet the romance rekindled and friends say she would have wanted to leave something for her soulmate. Too bad...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 29, 2016 | Dying Embarrassed, Estate Planning, Horror Stories, Probate Admin
The smooth, baritone Barry White never got divorced from his wife even though he was living with someone else. Plus he failed to make a will. All of that added up to years of conflict between his ex-wife, wife and girlfriend. If attacked, do you want to be Victor or...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 28, 2016 | Dying Embarrassed, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Horror Stories, Probate Admin
Tony Curtis had six kids from six marriages, left them nothing in his will except a legacy of litigation. If attacked, do you want to be Victor or Victim? At SacredHonor.US, we hate it when people die embarrassed. And at Protect.FM, we believe good estate plans...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 28, 2016 | Dying Embarrassed, Estate Planning, Horror Stories, Probate Admin
King left a great legacy in civil rights before his assassination at the age of 39 in 1968, but he didn’t leave a will or estate plan. That blunder left his family grappling for control of his image and financial legacy even now, decades after his death. If attacked,...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 25, 2016 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning
This round of leaks is somewhat less thrilling than those from Mossack Fonseca’s operations in Panama (although their name does come up) because the data uncovered is largely corporate registries, which contain only the basic components of offshore companies—name,...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 20, 2016 | Dying Embarrassed, Estate Planning, Horror Stories, Probate Admin
Talk about long probates! President Washington wrote his Last Will and Testament himself, without consulting any “professional character.” The will is dated July 9, 1799, less than six months before his death on December 14, 1799. …. Probate lasted...