If you’re donating assets to a charity, don’t scrimp when it comes to an appraisal and don’t try to file the tax forms yourself. That’s the lesson of a recent case from the U.S. Tax Court. The case involved Joe Mohamed, an extremely successful real estate investor in Sacramento, California. Joe donated real estate he valued at $18.5 million to a charitable trust. Because Joe was a qualified appraiser, he valued the properties himself. He also

If you or someone you know has an older estate plan that doesn’t carefully take into consideration the role of stepchildren, it’s a good idea to have it reviewed. If you have stepchildren – or if your children have stepchildren – it’s critical to make clear whether they’re included in your plans. Take the case of Bill and Pat Clairmont. This North Dakota couple had a daughter, Cindy; a son-in-law, Greg; and several grandchildren including a

Same-sex couples should review their estate plans in light of the Supreme Court’s decision striking down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The Supreme Court said that the federal law, which refused to recognize same-sex marriages with regard to federal taxes and benefits, was unconstitutional. The law had made estate planning especially difficult for same-sex couples, because they couldn’t take advantage of techniques that were available to other married couples. For instance, under federal

Widows and widowers who are considering remarriage should be aware that a law recently passed by Congress could make a huge difference in how much of their assets they are able to leave to their heirs after taxes. In general, anyone who is considering remarriage later in life should talk to an estate planner first in order to avoid possible tax problems. But the new law gives added urgency to this advice. Typically, when a person

Charlotte had several grown children, and from time to time she would give the children money. Sometimes she called it a gift, but sometimes she called it a loan. A few of the “loans” were small, but sometimes they were $25,000 or more, such as when a child was starting a business. Sometimes the children promised to pay the money back, but they didn’t say when. Sometimes Charlotte called something a “loan,” but it was clear

Some people have been reluctant to review their wills is recent years because the estate tax laws have been so uncertain. They’ve taken the attitude that they want to wait until the dust has settled. Well, with the “fiscal cliff” law on the books, the dust has now settled – or at least things are far more settled now than they have been in a very long time. That fact in itself is a good reason

Congress has temporarily revived a law that lets you make charitable donations directly from your IRA, which might provide some significant tax advantages. But the “IRA charitable rollover” will be allowed only until the end of 2013, so if you think this might benefit you, you should take advantage of it this year. If you’re over the age of 70½, you’re required to take minimum distributions each year from your IRA, and you have to pay

Three big changes in the way that trusts are taxed starting in 2013 are making it far more important to be careful about trust distributions. A trust’s income and capital gains will now be taxed very differently – and much more heavily – than income and capital gains for individuals. As a result, you’ll want to think very carefully about how you arrange distributions. And you might also want to have any existing trusts reviewed to

Year Exemption Amount Top tax rate 2001 $675,000 55% 2002 $1 million 50% 2003 $1 million 49% 2004 $1.5 million 48% 2005 $1.5 million 47% 2006 $2 million 46% 2007 $2 million 45% 2008 $2 million 45% 2009 $3.5 million 45% 2010 Repealed 2011 $5 million 35% 2012 $5.12 million 35% 2013 $5.25 million 40%