Obama seeks to add to estate tax

[AuH20]

Vampires want more.

http://www.atr.org/obama-budget-creates-second-death-tax

[tod evans]

Simple estate planning will avoid this one too...

Research "revocable trusts"....

If you own real property you owe it to your kids to do the research.

[jbauer]

What are you talking about.

99% of everyone out there do not need a trust. In the case of stepped up cost basis that the Fuhrer trying to take away a trust probably would do more harm then good. Trust tax rates are dramatically higher than personal ones, not to mention as we go after the "rich people" for more taxes I expect trust to fall into the "rich folks" category regardless of size. Not to mention a trust would do absolutely nothing in terms of cost basis on said asset. You're still going to have gain/loss.

I suspect you're talking about a "Tax-wise" trust, AB trust (many many names) etc the only thing that trust would do in this case would be to hold property into the husbands name and the wifes name. BUT the Fed government changed the estate tax rules so that you no longer need to have a trust to have the wifes property and the husbands property stay separate if titled correctly. They EACH get a $5M exclusion. So as long as the whole estate isn't in excess of $10M there's no need for a trust. If there is a state issue by all means look it up in your individual case.

If you're just talking about a revocable trust to take care of real property (things you can physically touch) you'd have to weight the costs of probate in your state/county vs the cost to write and maintain said trust. In TN we're talking less then 1/2% for probate. FYI, don't count any bank accounts, IRA's, 401ks, life insurance etc that have properly filed beneficiary information since that would pass without needing to go through probate. The only thing we're talking about for most folks here is the house and assets like grandmas quilt collection or similar. If probate isn't costly then what difference does it make?

The other considerations for a trust would be if you had the desire to control assets beyond the grave. Such as if you had a special needs child where assets couldn't hit the childs name at your death.





Simple estate planning will avoid this one too...

Research "revocable trusts"....

If you own real property you owe it to your kids to do the research.

[tod evans]

In my case (the only one I'm qualified to speak about) my assets are tangible, not a bunch of 1's-n-0's, and my heir is a minor...

A trust is the only logical option for me right now...

If other folks have other situations it'd be smart for them to visit an estate planner or tax attorney or both........

[Sonny Tufts]

Revocable trusts do not save income or estate taxes. All of the assets in such a trust are deemed owned by the grantor for income tax purposes, so he reports all of the income generated by the assets just as if he had never set up the trust. Any assets in the trust on the grantor's death will be included in his gross estate for estate tax purposes.

Of course, the Administration's calling the basis step-up the "trust fund loophole" is pure marketing BS, since it has nothing whatsoever to do with trusts.

[muh_roads]

In my case (the only one I'm qualified to speak about) my assets are tangible, not a bunch of 1's-n-0's, and my heir is a minor...

A trust is the only logical option for me right now...

If other folks have other situations it'd be smart for them to visit an estate planner or tax attorney or both........

I think it is still penalized the estate tax when pulled from a trust. Or is that only if you withdraw more than interest accrued?

[jbauer]

All his hard assets now are logged for the government to know who, what, when and where.