Now that the federal estate tax and gift tax equivalent has been “permanently” increased to $5.43 million per individual ($10.86 million for a married couple) for decedents dying in 2015, and the top tax rate is 40% rather than the previous maximum rates reaching 55%, many of the complex A/B Trust and Reduce to Zero estate plans previously implemented can be simplified and new plans can be prepared without all the focus on minimizing transfer taxes. But does that mean all the tax planning issues have been resolved? Not by any means. Under the old planning methods, the focus was on getting the assets out of the estate before death so that the taxable estate at the time of death was as small as possible. But by doing so, the transferee was not receiving a “step up” in basis of the asset which means that highly appreciated assets would ... [Continue Reading]
Estate of Mark Moon, the Sequel
Little did I know there would be a sequel..... S T A T E O F M I C H I G A N C O U R T O F A P P E A L S In re Estate of MARK E. MOON. KRISTINA MOON, Personal Representative, Appellant, UNPUBLISHED August 14, 2014 v No. 315698 Eaton Probate Court MERLIN MOON, LC No. 08-045647-DE Appellee. Before: SAAD, P.J., and OWENS a nd K.F. KELLY, JJ. PER CURIAM. Appellant, as personal representative of the estate of Mark E. Moon, appeals as of right the probate court’s order that denied her motion for summary disposition, which requested that the probate court determine that the estate has a 50 percent partnership interest in real property titled in appellee’s name. We affirm. As a preliminary matter, appellee claims that this Court does not have jurisdiction because not all interested parties appear to have been served with the claim of appeal. ... [Continue Reading]
Farmers Face Unique Challenges in Estate and Succession Planning
Planning for the succession of the family farm poses some unique challenges and should not be undertaken by those who are not familiar with the industry. While farmers are similar to many closely held business owners, there are some situations that make them unique. For example, farmers tend to have high “book value” because so much of their estate consists of land. However, they tend to have low cash value and lack liquidity. This situation used to cause a severe problem when a farmer died because the value of their estate would most often exceed the amount of the exemption or “unified credit” for federal estate taxes and the estate would struggle to find sufficient cash to pay the estate tax. However, this situation has been greatly mitigated now that the unified credit amount is over $5,000,000 per person and over $10,000,000 per ... [Continue Reading]
Blended Families Bring Special Issues to Estate Planning
Webster’s dictionary defines a blended family as a family that includes children of a previous marriage of one spouse or both. The first known use of the term blended family was in 1975. Blended families may consist of young couples with “his” and “hers” and “our” children or older couples with adult children from previous marriages and no children of the current marriage. The divorce rate in Michigan as recently as 2011 was 38%. This figure does not differentiate between first marriages and subsequent marriages and does not account for subsequent marriages of widows and widowers or marriages of those with children from previous relationships other than marriages. All told, the number of married couples who have children of any age that are not a product of the current marriage is a significant and expanding number. For the estate ... [Continue Reading]
Agricultural Industry Brings Unique Needs for Estate Planning
For individuals and families in the agricultural industry, planning for incapacity and succession to the next generation can pose some unique issues in estate planning. While many decisions and situations are universal to all people preparing an estate plan, those in the agricultural industry are uniquely situated and need to pay special attention to the fact that the feasibility and impact of their decisions are often very different than their non-agricultural friends and family. For instance, as much as we all want to ignore the fact, any of us could become disabled and unable to work at any time. For some people, that will force an early retirement. When you are in the agricultural industry, planning for incapacity is more than simply delegating another person to run to the bank for you or sign routine paperwork for you. Who will ... [Continue Reading]