Choosing a Corporate Trustee
Trusts are a central part of an overall estate plan for many families. One of the most important decisions is identifying someone to carry out this plan – to stand in your shoes when you are no longer able. Just…
Category: Trust and Fiduciary Services
The Corporate Transparency Act: New Reporting Requirements for Closely Held Businesses
Limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and other closely held entities, including certain business trusts, must now identify and report all beneficial owners to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau of the U.S. Treasury. A beneficial owner is any individual…
Decoding Life Insurance
Life insurance is often unnecessary for ultra-high net worth families. But in the right circumstances it can be a powerful planning tool, helping to provide estate liquidity, fund buy/sell agreements, or shelter taxes. Here are a few brief highlights: Income…
Near & Far: Wealth Planning for International Families
The wonderful thing about growing up in one country and living in another is that you get to come “home” twice on a single visit. But managing family assets across borders can feel like more than twice the work. Families…
Keeping the Special in Special Assets
Any inheritance represents more than the value of the underlying asset, for both the benefactor and the beneficiaries. That’s especially true when the inheritance includes a family business, real estate, a collection, or another precious asset. When the practical and…
Gauging Your Estate Plan’s Success
Stress tests can actually take the stress out of our biggest, most complex tests. That’s how regulators evaluate financial reserves, community organizations prepare for disasters, and doctors and trainers measure how healthy we are. It’s also how families can prepare…
All in the Family: Planning with Sprinkling Trusts
Each sibling, they say, experiences a different family. That’s true for their parents too, as they watch each of their children grow as individuals, so different from their brothers and sisters, no matter how close in age or how much…
Special Needs Trusts: Protecting the Whole Family with Wealth Planning
Families facing addiction, autism and other physical, mental, and emotional health issues are not alone, even if it can feel that way at first. Over three million children in the United States, or almost 5% of the total, have some…
What’s in Your (Digital) Wallet? Estate Planning for Crypto and NFT Assets
Some early investors in cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have accumulated significant wealth. But the extreme volatility and evolving tax treatment of these assets are good reasons to think long and hard about managing them in the context of…