Category: Tax Laws

Four Important Changes That Could Affect Your Estate Plan

1. The New Elective Share. A surviving spouse of a person who dies domiciled in Florida has the right to 30% of the decedent spouse’s elective estate.

The elective estate includes: the decedent’s probate estate, revocable trust estate, ownership interest in accounts or securities registered in “Pay On Death (POD)” “Transfer On Death (TOD),” “In Trust For (ITF),” joint accounts with right of survivorship, and more. The old elective share law only applied to the decedent’s probate estate.

Typically in second marriages, spouses want to pass their assets to the children of the first marriage. Prior to the “New Elective Share” if a spouse was successful in avoiding a probate administration at his or her [..]

Estate Planning Tools: Using the GRAT as a Tax Shelter

An accidental loophole in American estate planning legislation could help the nation’s richest citizens avoid billions of dollars in taxes. Billionaires in Florida are often required to pay outrageous 40 percent estate or gift taxes on their assets. Now, though, a newly popular type of trust is providing a critical tax shield that could have preserved about $100 billion in wealth since the year 2000. This important estate planning tool has been called a “mockery of the tax code,” but it is benefiting scores of wealthy Americans who are committed to smart estate planning.

Politicians have been attempting to close the loophole since 2009, but they have not succeeded. The wealthy Americans are using provisions [..]

Florida Residents Escape Income, Estate Tax Burdens

If you are a Florida resident working on your estate plan, you are probably already aware that careful maneuvering may be required to avoid a massive tax burden for your heirs. It is important to remember that state and federal tax differ not only based on how much you own, but it also relates to where you live. With that in mind, the experts at financial magazines have compiled a list of states where dying is radically more expensive than in other locations. Estate planners should remember that 19 states impose independent estate taxes on their residents. Even those who live in states without these taxes in place should tread with caution, as many of [..]