Latest / The Legal Exchange / How to stop the fighting after you pass

Transcript

How to stop the fighting after you pass · The Legal Exchange

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This is the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky from the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: law firm of Cushing and Dolan and Susan Powers of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the Armstrong Advisory Group. Each week, Todd and Susan will
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: discuss many topics, including estate planning, how to avoid probate,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and protecting your money from a nursing home. If you
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: need assistance in any of these areas, or have a
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: question about another issue that may affect your future, call
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: eight six six eight four eight five six ninety nine
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: to make an appointment. That's eight six six eight four
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: eight five six ninety nine. Operators are standing by. Now
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Here are your hosts, Tod Lutsky and Susan Powers.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Welcome into Legal Exchange with Todd Latsky. I'm Susan Powers,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: a financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group, and I'm
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: joined by Todd Lutsky, a partner with the law firm
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: of Cushing and Dolan with a master's in taxation. Welcome, Todd.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: How are you today?
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Well, I've been better, but we'll get through it.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: First time in what twenty years? You haven't said never better? Yeah,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: all this does, You'll just have to keep your voice
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: up a little bit I'll turn your microphone up to.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Wear a microphone up and hopefully you folks can struggle
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: through my voice challenge day. But we're gonna go to Iowa, nevertheless,
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: where we have an appellate tax court case, and we
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: went head over to Mississippi. In Iowa, there's a case
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: where there's a no contest clause, but was the challenge
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: in good faith or not in good faith? It involves
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: eight children and a will, and three of the children
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: had a little problem, and so they thought they'd challenge
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: the will. Good thing. There was a no contest clause
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: in or or was it a good thing? We'll see.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: But we're also going to learn about no contest clauses,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: how to use them, when to use them, how to
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: draft them. All of that is very important in drafting
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: your trusts and estates. Head over to Mississippi. Guardianship conservatorship
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: versus a power of attorney and a health care proxy
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: sounds like it's a heavyweight title fight, but it really isn't.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: But they started off with health care proxies and powers
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: of attorney. Husband wife married fifty two years, yet one
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: of the children had a problem with how care was
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: being provided. Wow, So then they flipped it to guardianships
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: and conservatorships, and why would you do that when you
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: have a health care proxy and a power of attorney.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Will stay tuned because those are documents we don't talk
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: a lot about, but you know what, they're important, important
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: enough to go to court and litigate over. So folks,
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: that's one aspect of planning. The guide we're giving away
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: this month is balancing assets and protecting assets from a
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: state taxes at the same time. It's going to have
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: a whole set of documents in here about portability, how
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: to use it. Calculating your estate tax through revocable trusts.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Put in your own formula, put in your own estate
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: assets rather and do the calculation because we give you
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: all of the tables to do it. And you can
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: also learn how the trusts actually shelter assets on the
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: first death to provide protection and reduce taxes on the
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: second death. And then we have a whole similar thing,
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: but for irrevocable trusts and calculating how to save the
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: taxes while at the same time protecting the assets from
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: the nursing home. Those are for folks that have assets
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: maybe four million or less. Anyways, brand new guide for
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: the month. Call and get it. It's a great way
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: to understanding both revocable and irrevocable trusts. Eight six six
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: eight four eight five six nine nine or Legal Exchange
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: Show dot com again eight six six eight four eight
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: five six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com. Iowa, Iowa.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Sounds good, Let's go.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: To Iowa, folks. There's no contest clause here. So Eugene
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: had eight kids Jeane, Diane, Karen, Leon, Lee, Cheryl, Lynn
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: and Roberts.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: For the family tree. There will not be a test
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: later will There.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: No, But I wanted to get those out there for you.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Uh huh.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Why the will provided for all the kids. Now, I
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: don't know if it's equal or not, but provided for
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: all the kids. Leon and Lee are the executors. So
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: the will also had a no contest clause in it
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: that said if you challenge it, you only get five
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: thousand dollars. Well that's interesting, okay, Well, Gene, Diane, and Karen,
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: three of the kids. They decided to file a contest
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: against the will, claiming that there was lack of capacity
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: by Eugene.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: And Eugene was the dad, the dad and.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Object to undue influence from the other kids. All three
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: of them filed AFFI David's indicating that family members were
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: gossiping and making offhand gestures or suggestions that Leon and Lee,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: remember they're the executors, they were involved in a scheme
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: to induce Eugene the dad to act on his estate
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: plan in ways that he didn't want to. Well, gossiping
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: and off hand suggestions is that enough? Well, Leon and
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: Lee filed motions to dismiss the claim and to enforce
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: the no contest clause. Well, the district court granted both motions,
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: and Jeane and Diane and Karen, of course were not happy, right,
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: so they appealed. The appellate court affirmed, stating that they
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: didn't challenge the will in good faith and they didn't
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: challenge the no contest clause in good place. They said
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: that they presented no genuine issue that Eugene lacked capacity
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: or was unduly influenced by his other kids. Therefore they lose,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: which I think is probably right. If you don't you know,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: if you have any proof of anything, If you can't
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: come up with good reasons, I think you got a problem.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: But this is more about First of all, you have
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: eight kids and you only did a will. Scratching my head. Right,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: But since the case is about no contest clauses, what
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: we're going to learn is about no contest clauses. First
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: of all, what are they? They're basically designed to say
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: that if you challenge the will or the trust. Folks,
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: let's pause here for a minute. If you're doing a
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: state planning and you have a will and a trust,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: please make sure that you put the no contest language
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: in both the will and the trust. Don't forget one, right, Okay.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: So once you put it in there, it's designed from
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: that point over to say you get nothing or, as
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: is the case here, some reduced them out if you
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: challenge it. Okay, now we know what it is drafting them. Well,
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: you can draft them in a way that says you
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: get a reduced amount or you get nothing. Both ways
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: are solid ways to draft it. Now, note if a
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: person challenging it is out altogether anyway, yep, Well, then
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: arguably they've got nothing to lose by trying.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Right, So if you're not leaving things equally, then you
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: really need one of these no contest clauses.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Right, we look at that, Susan, you jumped right to
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: my nextst.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: We've been doing this for twenty years together or something.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: The next question I have is, now that we understand
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: what it is and how to draft it, when do
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: you use it? Well, there's no harm in just using
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: it all the time. Just throw it in the trust
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: or in the will, because you just never know when
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: one kid might just you know, have a tiff and
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: aren't happy with something, and they might want to challenge.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: You might think your kids get along great, everyone's wonderful,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: great relationships, but everything changes when you die and you
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: put that bag of money on the table. We've seen
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: it time and time again. You're right, yep, sad.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: So it's very true, and so I think anytime is fine. However,
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: absolutely use it if you're treating them differently in any way,
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: even if there's no harm here, Like you're saying, Look,
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: I want this particular house to go to this particular child,
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: but you know what, this other child can have this
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: vacation home, and this kid can have this rental home.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Even though your goal and your heart is not to
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: cause a fuss, those houses might not all be equal.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: They would never be equal in value exactly, you know,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: And so someone might say, well, you've got a bigger
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: house than I got. You know, that could cause a problem. So,
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: even when you're not thinking it's designed to be harmful
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: to any one kid or or love them any less,
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: it put the no contest cross in to prevent it,
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: and especially if you start putting different percentages on, right, Yeah,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: then please put the no contest clause in. Now, some
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: questions exist, Do they work all the time? Mostly they do.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: But you know what if somebody challenges the will simply
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: because they said you didn't have capacity, and it turns
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: out that no, you really didn't have capacity, well then
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: the will is invalid, right, And if the will is invalid,
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: that's not the donor's intent, and then the donor never
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: intended to have a no contest claus. Yeah, so you
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: got to be key, know, so I think that's an option.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: But folks, get the guide. Learn about how both revocable
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: trusts and irrevocable trusts work in reducing your estate taxes,
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: and how to calculate your own estate tax liability. Call
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: and get the guide eight six six eight four eight
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: five six nine nine or Legal Exchange show dot com
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: and you can download it right there.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: You've been listening to Todd Lutsky, a partner with the
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: law firm of Cushing and Dolan. I'm Susan Powers, a
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group. We've got much
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: more to come when we return to the legal exchange
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: with Todd Lutsky.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: If you're retired or getting close, now's the perfect time
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: to take a fresh look at your estate plan. Doing
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: your planning early can help you protect your assets and
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: keep more of your wealth in your family. Cushing and Dolan,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: the leaders in elder lawn taxation, have put together a
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: new guide called Balancing, Asset Protection and Avoiding Estate Taxes,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: and in it you'll learn how to secure your assets
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: if you ever need long term care, how to avoid
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: having everything tied up in probate, and how to get
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: a clearer picture of your estate tax exposure. The guide
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: also breaks down real options that may help you reduce
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: or even eliminate your estate tax is when you plan
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: the right way and plan early. Whether you have an
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: existing estate plan or starting from scratch, this guide makes
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: it easy to understand what steps could help you and
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: your family in the long run. To get your free copy,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: call cushingan Dolan at eight six six eight four eight
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: five six ninety nine. That's eight sixty six eight four
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: eight five six nine nine. Or you can request it
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: online at legal exchange show dot com. That's legal exchange
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: show dot com. The proceeding was paid for in the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: use expressed or so. Leaders of Cushing and Dolin, Cushian
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Dolan and or Armstrong Advisory may contact you offering legal
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: or investment services. Cushingon Dolan in Armstrong Advisory do not
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: endorse each other and are not affiliated.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: Mark Vonner is the CEO of Veterans Development Corporation. His
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: dedication to serving our veterans has made an incredible impact
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: on his family and employees, and he is so proud
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: to be the presenting sponsor of the DAV five K Boston.
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: This is Brittany Vonner. I'm a registered nurse who is
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: now working as an assistant project manager at Veterans Development Corporation.
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: Working with my father Mark has been an incredibly rewarding experience.
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: Our company is dedicated to serving via hospitals and veteran communities.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: We don't just build facilities, we build environments that support healing, resilience,
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: and family. We are so proud to see our work
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: directly impact the lives of veterans and the professionals who
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: care for them. This rich history is why we care
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: so much about supporting great organizations such as Disabled American
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: Veterans Department of Massachusetts and the work they do to
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: care for our veterans.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: Join Veterans Development Corporation in thanking our great American heroes.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: Please visit DAV five k dot Boston to show your support.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Today.
• 12:36
  Speaker 6: At the Armstrong Advisory Group, we know that retirement might
• 12:39
  Speaker 6: not be the end of a career, but rather the
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: start of a new chapter. You and your spouse get
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: to build together. Hi, this is Mike Armstrong, and the
• 12:45
  Speaker 6: way you plan as a team can make all the difference.
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: That's why we're offering a brand new free guide called
• 12:51
  Speaker 6: Retirement Planning for Spouses. It covers real issues couples face,
• 12:54
  Speaker 6: how much income you'll need, where you want to live,
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: how you'll spend your time, and how to make sure
• 12:58
  Speaker 6: the surviving spouse is protected. Long term retirement planning isn't
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: one size fits all, and this guide may help you
• 13:03
  Speaker 6: start building a plan that fits both partners, both goals
• 13:06
  Speaker 6: and both futures. Call the Armstrong Advisory Group right now
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: at eight hundred three nine three for zero zero one
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: to get your free copy of our new guide called
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: Retirement Planning for Spouses. That's eight hundred three nine three
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: four zero zero one, or you can request it online
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: at Armstrong Advisory dot com.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Armstrong guide a specific financial, legal or tax advice. Consult
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: your own financial, tax, and estate planning advisors before making
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: any investment decisions. Armstrong may contact you to offer investment
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: advisory services. You're listening to the Legal Exchange with Todd Lunsky,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: an expert in elder life planning and taxation. Need help
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: with your estate plan? Comp Todd right now and make
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: an appointment eight six six eight four eight five six
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: ninety nine. That's eight sixty six eight four eight five
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: six ninety nine.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Welcome back into the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky. I'm
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Susan Powers, a financial advice with the Armstrong Advisory Group,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: and I'm joined by Todd Latsky, a partner with the
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: law firm of Cushing and Dolan with a master's in taxation,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: welcome back, Todd. Where are we headed now?
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: We are going to head over to Mississippi. We have
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: an appellate court case there. Here it says we're dealing
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: with guardianships, conservatorships versus powers of attorney and healthcare proxies.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: You don't really hear this much, but I thought this
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: was interesting. So Maddie and Willie Mayberry. Yeah, I know.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: This sounds completely made up, Just so you know.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: They're married for fifty two years. Twenty sixteen, they travel
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: to California to stay with their daughter, Lisa. I assume
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: it's a first marriage. While Willie participated in some trial
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: tests for Alzheimer's. Well, Maddie and Willie while they were there,
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: they executed a healthcare directive and a power of attorney.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: Not sure why after fifty two years of Mary's they
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: decided finally to do that, but that's.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Probably advice from doctors at that point. I would think.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: That's neither here nor there. Yeah, and they appointed Lisa
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: as their attorney. In fact, right off the bat, that
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: scratch makes me scratch my head. Right, Why is it
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: not each other?
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Right? First, well, I could understand not him because he's declining.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: But maybe she should be his. I think early Alzheimer's
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: still good. Yeah, I mean it doesn't mean anyways. First
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: head scratcher. Next, Maddie continued to serve as Willie's primary caregiver.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Makes sense. They've been married fifty two years. Matty and
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Lisa started having disagreements over Willie's care, and it got
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: so bad that that they moved back to Mississippi. The
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: disagreements continued, but Maddie continued to be Willie's primary care provider.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: Mattie then filed a petition to become Willie's guardian and
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: conative because she just wanted she was going to continue
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: to be the primary caregiver because she sees him every
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: day and wanted more control over what was happening in
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: her own home. Hmm, okay, so she gets rid of
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: the health care proxy and the power of attorney by
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: becoming a conservator and a guardian. Lisa objected to this approach,
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: which you're allowed to object to this, and Willy's brother
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: and sister, who by the way, also had tough relationship
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: with Maddie really fifty two years of marriage, they joined
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: in the court found Willie. Remember Willie's the wife. I'm
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: sorry Mattie's the wife husband. Yeah, the court found Willie
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: needed a guardian and a conservator, and Maddie was in
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: the best position to provide care and make financial decisions. Yeah,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: so the court said you get to be his provider
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: for financial and medical decisions, Maddie, which makes sense. It's
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: been married for fifty two years. The appellate court affirms, saying
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: basically saying that Maddie was in the best position and
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: found it to be problematic that Lisa was actually making
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: decisions without consulting Maddie.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah her, Yeah, maybe not Lisa's mother. It sounds like
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: it might have been even though it was fifty two years,
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: might have been a second marriage, but.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: Maybe there's no indication of that in the fact.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Actually, you to do more digging on the tea so
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: you can spill the tea properly. I need some juicy
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: details on the backstory of these cases.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: I don't have the backstory for this one, but I
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: do think we have the right decision, and I think
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: we need to spend a few minutes and we're going
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: to sort of learning why we have powers of attorney
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: healthcare proxies and how they compete with guardianships and conservator ships.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: Before we do that, we're going to let you call
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: and get the guide for your balancing, asset protection and
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: avoiding estate taxes. It basically gives you the pros and
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: cons of portability, helps you understand what these exemptions are
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: that we talk so much about. It explains the remainder
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: share and the marital share. We talk about those shares
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: sheltering assets for a state taxes all the time, but
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: you really need to understand how they do it. This
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: guide will do that for you. It does the exact
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: same thing for irrevocable trusts and explains the differences Those
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: marital shares and remainder shares work, but they're drafted a
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: little differently and in both cases. It gives you all
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: the tables to calculate your estate tax, so you can
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: find out exactly how much your own estate tax is
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: and then pick which trust is right for you. Revocable
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: or irrevocable. Call and get the guide eight six six
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: eight four eight five six nine nine or Legal Exchange
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: Show dot com again eight sixty six eight four eight
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: five six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot Com.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Let's start with powers of attorney very important documents.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: It is very It allows somebody to appoint somebody else
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: to make all kinds of financial decisions. Pay bills, make gifts,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: change powers, change designated beneficiaries, on iras, transfer real estate,
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: you name it. You generally appoint each other husband and wife.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: Why Willie and Maddie didn't appoint each other. I get it,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: he had alzheimerspends how bad it is, But all right,
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: so they put Lisa on. It's okay to have a
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: child as an alternate. But again, it's good to trust.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: That your backup.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: It's a backup. Yeah, But in this case, as you
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: pointed out, Susan, that maybe you needed to you know,
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Lisa on as the primary.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Well, I would think Lisa for the wife, not the husband,
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: like the wife being the primary for the husband.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: I was just thinking, that's a really good point. Why
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: wouldn't So this whole Lisa thing is a misunderstanding for me.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: So I guess my advice to you is, don't do that, right,
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: put husband and wife on and put a child as
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: an alternate, and remember they're changeable. You can change them.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: Anytime you start having problems with a child, remove them. Yep.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Okay, And these documents like you can do stuff for
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: people financially. Anything they can do financially, you can do
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: within reason if it's in the document, but they are.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: You don't have to be incompetent. So if you're my
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: power of attorney Todd, you can step in. Even if
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: I'm competent. You really gotta trust the person. That's exactly no,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: that they can act on your behalf.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: With the power of attorney. They take effect immediately. Yeah,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: you're absolutely right, Susan. And they survive you're incapacity, but
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: not your death. So so many people think they'll come
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: in and they'll say, my dad just died, but I'm
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: going to run down to the bank with my power
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: of attorney and change. No, they end immediately when you end. Okay,
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: healthcare proxy a little different. You can only have one
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: at a time. Certainly it should have been each other
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: or at least not les for him. And you make
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: medical decisions for this person, all kinds of medical decisions,
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: not just you know, pulling a plug, all kinds which
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: apparently he needed.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah here, and does that take effect immediately, like the
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: power of attorney Todd.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's very different than the power of attorney
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: So the great point there is that those do not
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: actually take effect until the person who needs the care
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: has lost capacity.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Okay, so you're unable to make a decision for yourself.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: Always want to be making it yourself first. Perhaps he's
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: gotten to that point right and she could make the decisions,
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: and you always want somebody close by local when you're
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: doing geographically local. Okay, So those are two great.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: To both of those, the healthcare and the power of attorney.
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: You got a little more leeway with the power of
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: attorney because today with phones and facts is and emails,
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: you can do all kinds of stuff. Guardianships and conservatorships.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: In this case you got to go to court. A
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: guardianship is something that you get over the individual, over
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: the person to make decisions for the person, Like health care.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Conservatorships are designed to make financial decisions for the person. Okay.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: So the conservatorship would sort of kick out the power
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: of attorney. You'd overrule the power of attorney, and the
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: guardianship would overrule the healthcare proxy. Why would you do it?
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: You don't do this generally. You do it though, if
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: you've got a contentious situation, if she's worried that every
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: time she makes a financial decision, this daughter might be
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: challenging her. Better to have the court supervision to protect you, folks,
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: Call and get the guide. Learn how to protect yourself
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: from a state taxes and understand how these trusts work
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: eight six six, eight four, eight, five six nine nine,
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: or go to our website Legal Exchange Show dot com
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: and you can download it right there.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: You've been listening to Todd Lutsky, a partner with the
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: law firm of Cushing and Dolan. I'm Susan Powers, a
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group, and Todd will
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: be answering your listener questions when we return to the
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: If you're retired or getting close, now's the perfect time
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: to take a fresh look at your estate plan. Doing
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: your planning early can help you protect your assets and
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: keep more of your wealth in your family. Cushing and Dolan,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: the leaders in elder lawn taxation, have put together a
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: new guide called Balancing, Asset Protection and Avoiding Estate Taxes,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and in it you'll learn how to secure your assets
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: if you ever need long term care, how to avoid
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: having everything tied up in probate, and how to get
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: a clearer picture of your estate tax exposure. The guide
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: also breaks down real options that may help you reduce
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: or even eliminate your estate taxes when you plan the
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: right way and plan early. Whether you have an existing
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: estate plan or starting from scratch, this guide makes it
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: easy to understand what steps could help you and your
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: family in the long run. To get your free copy,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: call Cushing and Dolan at eight six six eight four
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: eight five six ninety nine. That's eight six six eight
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: four eight five six nine nine, or you can request
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: it online at Legal exchangshow dot com. That's Legal exchange
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: show dot com. The proceeding was paid for in the
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: use expressed or so lead those of Cushing and Dolin,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Cushiingan Dolan, and or Armstrong Advisory may contact you offering
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: legal or investment services. Cushing and Dolin in Armstrong Advisory
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: do not endorse each other and are not affiliated.
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: The Armstrong Advisory Group understands retirement planning and when it
• 24:55
  Speaker 6: comes to married couples, it can be about more than money. Hi,
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: this is Mike Armstrong and our new gues called Retirement
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: Planning for Spouses tackles many issues that couples face as
• 25:04
  Speaker 6: they're preparing for later life. This guide keeps things simple,
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: focusing on important matters such as making sure both partners
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: understand where their money's coming from in retirement, being aware
• 25:13
  Speaker 6: of scams, how to stay organized if one spouse outlives
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: the other, and ways to handle gifts, donations or legacy
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: goals as a team. It's a straightforward look at the
• 25:21
  Speaker 6: steps every couple can take to feel confident about retirement.
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: Call the Armstrong Advisory Group right now at eight hundred
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: three nine three for zero zero one to get your
• 25:30
  Speaker 6: free copy of Retirement Planning for Spouses. That's eight hundred
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: three nine three for zero zero one, or you can
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: request it online at Armstrong advisory dot com.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Armstrong guide a specific financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: your own financial, tax into state planning advisors before making
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: any investment decisions. Armstrong may contact you to offer investment
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: advisory services. When the holidays roll in and the cold
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: settles over New England, find your escape in the US
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Virgin Islands. Trade the freezing ten some grace guys for
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: warm sun, turquoise water, and that easy island energy. You
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: can feel the second u Land. This December through early January,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Saint Croix ignites with the Krucian Christmas Festival, a celebration
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: over a century old. Frederickstead comes alive with colorful parades,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: live reggae, and streets filled with the sites and flavors
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: of real Caribbean culture. It's the holiday season with a
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: tropical beat. From there, explore Saint Thomas with its duty
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: free shopping and the legendary views at Maggan's Bay. Or
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: slow down on Saint John, where quiet beaches and National
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Park trails make every day feel like your own private adventure.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Getting there could not be easier. No passport is needed
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and there's no money to exchange. Just pack light and
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: step out of the cold into pure sunshine. This holiday season,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: let yourself fall naturally in rhythm with the heartbeat of
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: the islands. Visit America's Caribbean paradise, the US Virgin Islands.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Go to visit USBI dot com and book your trip today.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: That's visit USBI dot com.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: We're proud to announce that circle K is now the
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: official convenience store of the DAV Department of Massachusetts at
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: Circle K. Supporting those who bravely served our country isn't
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: just a commitment, it's a heartfelt mission. Circle K is
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: honored to stand with the DAV Department of Massachusetts to
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: ensure that veterans receive the care and recognition they deserve.
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: If you'd like to do your part, please visit DAVMA
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: dot org. Thank you for standing with circle K and
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: the DAV Department of Massachusetts, and thank you veterans for
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: all you've done.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: You're listening to the Legal Exchange, and it's time for
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Ask Todd, the segment where Tod will answer your questions
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: about anything and everything that's included in the estate planning process.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Once again, here's Todd Lutsky and Susan Powers.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: Welcome back, Todd. We have a few questions from listeners
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: for you. First question comes from Susan in Wooster, mass
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: So not me. Susan writes, my husband and I are
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: thinking about retiring to Florida.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: We are I do right.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: We have irrevocable trusts. Now if we move, will we
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: need to start over with a new trust? What happens
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: if we moved to Florida. Will our property in Massachusetts
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: still be protected for the nursing home and taxes? So
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: it sounds like they're going to be snowbirds and keep
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: the property in mass and a property in Florida.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: So there's a lot of stuff going on in this
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: in this question. You know, first residency issues, second ongoing
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: state planning, Yeah, tax issues. So can you move? Sure?
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: Good idea, We promoted that earlier. The irrevocable trust tells
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: me that the value of their overall estate was probably
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: under four million, if I had to guess, sure, because
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: they did these irrevocable medicaid trusts. So now when they move,
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: just should they? You know, when you're moving, you've got
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: to think about changing residency and how do you effectively
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: do that?
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Right, because when they did their trust, there mass Chusetts
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: residents and now they're going to be Florida residents.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: So because you don't want to be taxed in mass
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: you want to make sure you're a Florida resident, Okay,
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: and so change your voter registration, driver's license, you know,
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: file your tax returns with that address. Federally, everything been
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: six months in a day and by the way, just
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: not in mass You can be other places, just not
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: in mass six months in a day, because you might
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: go to Europe for a month, you might go to
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: visit your family day. Yeah, so just make sure you
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: meet the requirements of the state that you're in. Yeah,
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: for residency. Another thing you might want to change as
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: another arrow in your quiver would be these are state
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: planning documents, but not the trusts. So basically the will,
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: the health care proxy, the power of attorney, you know, hippa.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: There's forms that are state specific. So everybody's power of
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: attorney is different. They have every state is yeah, very different.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: Some fall under the uniform uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act,
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: but most of them are different. And so that shows
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: your intent to be a Florida resident and they're inexpensive.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: That's not a big change. The trust, on the other hand,
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: can stay, It goes with you. It doesn't have to
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: be modified.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: So more built on federal than state specific.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: Right, you could leave that state. You could leave it
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: governed by the laws of Massachusetts if you want, doesn't.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Matter, that doesn't make it taxable.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: Or you could simply change the situs of the trust.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: What state governs it.
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: Right, just saying governed by the laws of you know, Florida,
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: Florida whatever. Yeah, non important. The important thing is your
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: trust goes with you now that you've got your residency changed,
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: and you now know that you kept your irrevocable trust,
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: so that tells us that you don't reset your five
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: year waiting period and you're still protected from the nursing
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: home because it's the same trust. And for medicaid purposes,
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: the laws are federal Medicaid implemented by the states. So
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: I think you're fine. There. A little bit more to
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: talk about on the residency side. If you're keeping your
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: house in Massachusetts, even though it's in an irrevocable trust,
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: still kind of deemed yours, Massachusetts will tax you on
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: property in the state you're a Florida resident, even if
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: you're a non resident, it is. But you can fix
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: that by putting that house in a limited liability.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: Company, so into an LLC.
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: Okay, And now you've converted it into an intangible, which
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: is stock, and Massachusetts cannot tax non residents on intangibles,
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: only on estate, so that will get you there, and
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: that will solve the problem. So please do that when
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: you when you make that switch. Now, that said, I
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: think they're they're in good shape. Now you're now you're
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: a non resident, You're not going to be taxed in
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: mass and that's all you need to know. Excellent, But
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: you do need to know one other thing, protecting assets
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: from the nursing home and balancing your estate taxes, which
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: is what this guy is all about this month. It
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: explains to you what portability of exemptions are, the pros
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: and cons. It explains to you how these exemptions work.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: We talk about them and we throw out words like
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: marital shares and remainder shares, but this actually explains how
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: those buckets work, how they protect assets from taxation in
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: the when the surviving spouse dies, and so it helps
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: you understand that. And it does the same thing with
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: irrevocable trusts and explains how to draft and how those
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: remainder shares and marital shares differ but also provide the
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: protection from state taxes while also protecting it from nursing homes.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: So call and get the guide and then you can
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: also show you all the guides to calculate your tax
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: in there eight six six eight four eight five six
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot Com again eight
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: six six eight four eight five six nine nine or
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: Legal Exchange show dot com.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Our last question comes from Jennifer and fall River, and
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: Jennifer writes, if we put our home and investments into
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: an irrevocable trust for medicaid planning, do we lose all control?
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: Can we still live in the house and manage the investments?
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: Can our kids kick us out of the house if
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: they decide to sell it. People are truly afraid of
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: having no control and just handing over the reins.
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: They are susan and I'm going to say they are.
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: But I'm also going to tell you that over the years,
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: I'm finding it better of finding clients coming in a
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: little less.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: Because our listeners about it.
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: Maybe maybe also, I think our discussion to everybody about
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: the Foinier case, which came down maybe in twenty sixteen
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: or twenty twenty, rather somewhere around there where the Supreme
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: Court of the State, you know, blessed these trusts and
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: that they do work. It's been helpful and helpful, and
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: so in this case, you're not going to lose control, right,
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: You're going to still be ninety eight percent in charge.
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: If I had to throw out a number to help
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: people understand. So let's run through and tick off what
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: the questions were. It's one thing to say you're in control.
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: It's another to give an example. Can we still live
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: in the house, Yes, as long as you want and
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: manage the invent Yes. And maybe you can tell them
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: even though you're not trustee on the trust, as donor,
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: you can get some kind of limited trading.
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So we still work with the moms and
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: dads of the worlds the donors of the trust, to
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: do reviews and talk about investments and so forth. Now
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: the trustee typically the kids or whomever, they're the ones
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: signing the paperwork to just set up the accounts. But
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: we're still meeting with mom and dad, right, So that
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: doesn't absolutely so so so.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: Then the answer is right, you heard it from Susan. Yes,
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: you're still in charge of managing your investments. You're in
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: charge of living in your house. And then you know,
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: they come back and they say, you know, can you
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: kick us out if they decide to sell.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: It, Because if they get that tax bill, they get
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: the real estate tax bill or the water and sewer bill,
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: and their child the trustee's name is on that bill.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: And they think, oh, my son owns the house.
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: They do. I get to call all the time that
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: I see my name. No, keep reading, it's got the
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: name Comma trustee. Yeah, so that's just the title that
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: they have. They are not the owner of the assets
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: and the trust, the trust is the owner. And you've
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: got to make that clear when you talk to clients.
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: The trust is the owner. And so that said, yes,
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: you can live in your house, and no, they can't
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: kick you out. So let's go through this example. What
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: if they want to sell it, Well, if they can
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: sell it, they're the trustees, but you just remove them
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: as trustee and that would be the end of the sale.
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: As soon as you see the for sale sign go up,
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: you're done. So, folks, you really are in control. But
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: call and get the guide you can learn about revocable trusts.
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: An irrevocable trust really explains to you how these buckets work,
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: the marital share, the remainder share, and help you understand
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: how to calculate your own estate eight six six eight
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: four eight five six nine to nine or Legal exchange
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: show dot com.
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: If you have a question you would like to ask Todd,
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: visit his website Legal Exchange show dot Com and click
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: on the ask Tod tab. Maybe I'll be able to
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: read your question on the air, and hopefully his answer
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: will stop you from becoming one of his next real
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: life stories. You've been listening to Todd Lutsky, a partner
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: with the law firm of Cushing and Dolan. I'm Susan
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Power as a financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: We'll be back with more after this quick break on
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: If you're retired or getting close, now's the perfect time
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: to take a fresh look at your estate plan. Doing
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: your planning early can help you protect your assets and
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: keep more of your wealth in your family. Cushian Dolan,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: the leaders in elder lawn taxation, have put together a
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: new guide called Balancing, Asset Protection and Avoiding Estate Taxes,
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: and in it you'll learn how to secure your assets
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: if you ever need long term care, how to avoid
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: having everything tied up in probate, and how to get
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: a clear picture of your estate tax exposure. The guide
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: also breaks down real options that may help you reduce
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: or even eliminate your estate tax is when you plan
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: the right way and plan early. Whether you have an
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: existing estate plan or starting from scratch, this guide makes
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: it easy to understand what steps could help you and
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: your family in the long run. To get your free copy,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: call Cushing and Dolan at eight six six eight four
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: eight five six ninety nine. That's eight six six eight
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: four eight five six nine nine, or you can request
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: it online at legal exchainshow dot com. That's legal exchangshow
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: dot com. The proceeding was paid for in the views
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: expressed or so leados of Cushing and Dolin, Cushian Dolan
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: and or Armstrong Advisory may contact you offering legal or
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: investment services. Cushing and Dolan in Armstrong Advisory do not
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: endorse each other and are not affiliated.
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: Mark Vonner is the CEO of Veterans Development Corporation. His
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: dedication to serving our veterans has made an incredible impact
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: on his family and employees, and he is so proud
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: to be the presenting sponsor of the DAV five K Boston.
• 38:53
  Speaker 7: My name is Ashley Vonner, Director of Operations at Veterans
• 38:56
  Speaker 7: Development Corporation. I wanted to learn the family business under
• 39:00
  Speaker 7: the guidance of my father, Mark Bonner. BDC is more
• 39:02
  Speaker 7: than a general contractor. It's a service disabled veteran owned
• 39:06
  Speaker 7: small business that goes above and beyond for the veteran community.
• 39:09
  Speaker 7: With Mark's military background serving in the Marine Corps, our
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: company is committed to supporting the disabled American Veterans. Department
• 39:17
  Speaker 7: of Massachusetts BDC has been the presenting sponsor for the
• 39:21
  Speaker 7: DAV five K for many years, striving to spread awareness
• 39:24
  Speaker 7: of this great organization. Working for Veterans Development Corporation has
• 39:28
  Speaker 7: shaped me into the person I am today, and I
• 39:30
  Speaker 7: am proud to be a part of this organization.
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: Please visit DAV five k dot Boston to show your
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: support today.
• 39:39
  Speaker 6: At the Armstrong Advisory Group, we know that retirement might
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: not be the end of a career, but rather the
• 39:43
  Speaker 6: start of a new chapter. You and your spouse get
• 39:46
  Speaker 6: to build together. Hi, this is Mike Armstrong and the
• 39:48
  Speaker 6: way you plan as a team can make all the difference.
• 39:51
  Speaker 6: That's why we're offering a brand new free guide called
• 39:54
  Speaker 6: Retirement Planning for Spouses. It covers real issues couples face,
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: how much income you'll need, where you want to live,
• 39:59
  Speaker 6: how you'll spend your time, and how to make sure
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: the surviving spouse is protected long term retirement planning isn't
• 40:04
  Speaker 6: one size fits all, and this guide may help you
• 40:06
  Speaker 6: start building a plan that fits both partners, both goals,
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: and both futures. Call the Armstrong Advisory Group right now
• 40:12
  Speaker 6: at eight hundred three nine three for zero zero one
• 40:15
  Speaker 6: to get your free copy of our new guide called
• 40:17
  Speaker 6: Retirement Planning for Spouses. That's eight hundred three nine three
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: four zero zero one, or you can request it online
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: at Armstrong Advisory dot com.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Armstrong guide a specific financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: your own financial, tax into state planning advisors before making
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: any investment decisions. Armstrong may contact you to offer investment
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: advisory services. Your tune to the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: If you were a loved one needs a nursing homestay,
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: call Todd right now at eight six six eight four
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: eight five six nine nine and let him make sure
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: your assets are protected. That's eight six six eight for
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: eight five six nine nine, or visit him online at
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Legal Exchange Show dot com.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: Welcome back into the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky. I'm
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: Susan Powers of financial Advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group,
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: and I'm joined, of course by Todd Lutsky, a partner
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: with a law firm of Cushing and Dolan, with a
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: master's in taxation. Todd, your guide this month is all
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: about balancing, asset protection and avoiding estate taxes. So let's
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: start with the first part of that, which is the
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: avoiding the estate tax part. Two things you need to
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: consider can consider when it comes to a state taxes.
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: You've got the federal estate tax and then you've got
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: state a state tax R which is different in every state. Yes,
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: some of them are the same, but it's different for
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: every state, and some most have none right, which is
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: nice except for here in Massa Chusetts tax a chuse it.
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: We got the taxes.
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: Let's start with the federal. How large of an estate
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: do you have to have before you pay federal estate taxes?
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: So the guide always and we always talk a lot
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: about exemptions, right and how they work and what they are.
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: But in this case this guide really explains them. But
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: let me let me explain what they are. The federal
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: exemption as of January one, twenty six, twenty twenty six
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: will be fifteen million. Now, what is an exemption. An
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: exemption is the amount of assets that you're able to
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: pass to someone other than a spouse and not pay tax.
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: So fifteen million to kids, go over that, and there's
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: a forty percent tax.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: Hit on anything over the fifteen million correct.
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: Worth correct, But to a spouse it's unlimited, okay, okay,
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: which isn't helpful. It's unlimited, okay.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: So if you don't do anything, it goes to your
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: spouse basically, I mean just for if you're not planning, Yeah,
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: without any formal planning.
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: Jointly held, it'll probably go to the spouse.
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: So does that mean if you do your trust planning
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: you're put in a state plan in place. You could
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: have a married couple worth thirty million before you're paying
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: federal estate taxes if you do things right.
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: You could, and you're absolutely right. You've got to make
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: sure that you actually do some trust planning in order
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: to actually get the use of the exemption. There's things
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: called portability, and but you know, you still have to
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: do something to take advantage of portability, so it doesn't
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: happen automatically. So if you don't use your exemption. You
• 43:35
  Speaker 3: could poured it over to the surviving spouse, but it
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: does not happen automatically. You're going to have to make
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: an election when you when one spouse dies, and if
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: you've never done any planning, likely you don't even know
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: to make that election.
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: Right, there are things. I mean, you're that high net worth,
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: you would hope, but yeah, I'm sure you've seen folks
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: that are that high net worth that have nothing in place.
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I have, I have. Yeah, So that's a that's
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: an issue. That's okay, that's federal.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: For most people, Federal will never be an issue inconceivable
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: to them that they would even come close for most
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: folks listening. So let's talk about state estate taxes because
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: that's something that we all need to consider. So here
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: in Massachusetts, how much money can you have in your
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: estate without paying any Massachusetts estate taxes?
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: So the exemption in mass is now higher than it
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: used to be, but it's two million, okay, and that's
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: two million again per person, right, per per spouse, Not
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: so I say per spouse, but it's per person. But
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: you kind of need to be married in order to
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: get the exemption. Same federally right to double the exemption.
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah right, So if you're married and you do the
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: planning that you talk with which is key, which is
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: the trust planning, then this will work and you can
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: shelter four million, share one real life story with you.
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: Client comes in and it works for federal too. Remember
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: thirty nine million. He has two kids, brings his significant
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: other of thirty years, not married, two kids. I explained
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: to him in no uncertain terms that if you get married,
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: I can save you about twenty million dollars in a
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: state taxes. Wow, we're going to the courthouse, he we are.
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: And the kids are going to give me away.
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: But that's that's what matters, right. That marriage made a
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: difference to them in being able to double these exemptions
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: federally fifteen to thirty and then to the state four.
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: So folks get the guide. This is what this guide
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: is about. It discusses portability, It discusses the pros and
• 45:53
  Speaker 3: cons of it. It describes how you get it right,
• 45:56
  Speaker 3: what elections you have to make, and it really helps
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: you understand the exemptions both federal and state. It talks
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: about the marital share and the remainder share inside a
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: revocable trust, so you can learn about that. It gives
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: you the tax calculations. It gives you the tables to
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: calculate your own estate tax. Put your own formula in
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: and your own assets and you could learn how to
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: calculate what tax would be for you both federal and state.
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: And it also explains these exact shares under a remainder
• 46:27
  Speaker 3: share marital share for a irrevocable trust. So folks, great idea,
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: learn which trust is right for you and what your
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: tax liability is. Get this guide eight sixty six eight
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: four eight five six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: dot com. You can download it there eight six six
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: eight four eight five six nine nine or Legal Exchange
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: Show dot com.
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: I think one of the most important takeaways for listeners
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: today Todd is in order to maximize the amount of
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: your estate that you are not paying taxes on, you
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: need to have a plan in place. So can we
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: walk through an example of a married couple. Let's put
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: them right at that max at four million dollars four million?
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: What does it look like if they do no planning
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: and the one spouse dies and then things move, and
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: then the second spouse dies. Can you walk through that
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: example no planning in place? Whatsoever, and just assume everything's
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: joint beneficiaries each other and so forth.
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: And for all of you listening, this might affect a
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: lot of you. You say, yeah, I'm married, Yeah, I
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: own everything joint my house, my vacation home, our investment account,
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: I have my IRA that designated beneficiaries, my spouse.
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: Life insurance, the spouse.
• 47:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, these are all normal, typical things that you would have.
• 47:50
  Speaker 3: And so one spouse dies, I haven't done anything, you said, geez,
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: I didn't even do a will. That's okay, you avoided.
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: He wants to go to probate nobody.
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: Big kudos to you. But all the assets went to
• 48:07
  Speaker 3: the spouse. Remember earlier, when I was describing the exemption,
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: I said that you can leave an unlimited amount of
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: assets to a spouse. The exemption really applies to leaving
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: assets to someone other than a spouse. Okay, so we
• 48:22
  Speaker 3: certainly don't want to disinherit a spouse, and that's where
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: the trust going. But in this case, you can leave
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: the whole four million to your spouse or two million.
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: However it's set up yep, and there's no Massachusetts of
• 48:34
  Speaker 3: state tax and no federal state tax.
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: So convenient and you avoided no hassle, no probate, no
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: tax returns. Absolutely right, everything goes to the spouse. What's
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: the problem with that?
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: So now the spouse lives a while, and let's say
• 48:49
  Speaker 3: the estate grows to five million and the espouse dies
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: orth five million. What's the Massachusetts exemption two million? There
• 48:59
  Speaker 3: is two million that you had for your first spouse,
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: but you wasted that. You didn't use it, and for
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: state purposes, and this is important, portability does not apply.
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: So you don't get that coupon.
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: You don't get there if nothing was Yeah, you don't
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: get a coupon to come over. Yeah. So the old
• 49:19
  Speaker 3: adage is if you don't use it, you lose it.
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: For mass And so now four million five million minus
• 49:28
  Speaker 3: two million is three million. The tax on three million
• 49:32
  Speaker 3: is every bit of ten percent, So call it three
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: hundred thousand dollars. Wow, So there's a three hundred thousand
• 49:38
  Speaker 3: dollars liability to the state.
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: And how is that different if they did their trust planning?
• 49:44
  Speaker 3: So with the trust planning, we want to carve out
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: two million on the first death. We don't want to
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: disinherit our spouse, we don't want to leave it to
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: the kids, but by pulling it into this remainder share,
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: which again we talk about it all the time. This
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: remainder share holds the asset for the benefit of the
• 50:02
  Speaker 3: surviving spouse, but includes it in the estate of the
• 50:07
  Speaker 3: first to die, subjecting it to tax, but not having
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: a taxed when the survivor dies. So no tax on
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: the first death because you have a two million dollar
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: exemption to gobble up, and no tax on the second
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: death if she dies with the other two million. So
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: folks call and get the guide and really understand how
• 50:27
  Speaker 3: these exemptions work and calculate your own estate tax and
• 50:34
  Speaker 3: figure out which trust revocable or your vocal is right
• 50:37
  Speaker 3: for you eight six six eight four eight five six
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: nine nine or Legal Exchange show dot com.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: Todd Letsky from the law firm of Cushing and Dolan,
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: thank you so much.
• 50:47
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Susan, always a pleasure.
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: I'm Susan Powers, a financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group.
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: We thank you for joining us today and we'll be
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: back again next week on the Legal Exchange with Todd Letsky.
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: If you're retired or getting close, now's the perfect time
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: to take a fresh look at your estate.
• 51:04
  Speaker 3: Plan.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: Doing your planning early can help you protect your assets
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: and keep more of your wealth in your family. Cushing
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: and Dolan, the leaders in elder lawn taxation, have put
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: together a new guide called Balancing, Asset Protection and Avoiding
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: Estate Taxes, and in it you'll learn how to secure
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: your assets if you ever need long term care, how
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: to avoid having everything tied up in probate, and how
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: to get a clearer picture of your estate tax exposure.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: The guide also breaks down real options that may help
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: you reduce or even eliminate your estate taxes when you
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: plan the right way and plan early. Whether you have
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: an existing estate plan or starting from scratch, this guide
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: makes it easy to understand what steps could help you
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: and your family in the long run. To get your
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: free copy, call Cushing and Dolan at eight six six
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: eight four eight five six ninety nine. That's eight six
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: six eight four eight five six nine nine, or you
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: can request it online at legal exchainshow dot com. That's
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: legal exchange show dot com. The proceeding was paid for
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: in the use expressed or so legos of Cushing and Dolin.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: Cushing and Dolan in or Armstrong Advisory may contact you
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: offering legal or investment services. Cushing and Dolan in Armstrong
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: Advisory do not endorse each other and are not a fit.
• 52:00
  Speaker 6: If the Armstrong Advisory Group understands retirement planning and when
• 52:03
  Speaker 6: it comes to married couples, it can be about more
• 52:05
  Speaker 6: than money. Hi, this is Mike Armstrong and our new
• 52:07
  Speaker 6: guide called Retirement Planning for Spouses tackles many issues that
• 52:11
  Speaker 6: couples face as they're preparing for later life. This guide
• 52:14
  Speaker 6: keeps things simple, focusing on important matters such as making
• 52:17
  Speaker 6: sure both partners understand where their money's coming from in retirement,
• 52:20
  Speaker 6: being aware of scams, how to stay organized if one
• 52:23
  Speaker 6: spouse outlives the other, and ways to handle gifts, donations
• 52:26
  Speaker 6: or legacy goals as a team. It's a straightforward look
• 52:29
  Speaker 6: at the steps every couple can take to feel confident
• 52:32
  Speaker 6: about retirement. Call the Armstrong Advisory Group right now at
• 52:35
  Speaker 6: eight hundred three nine three for zero zero one to
• 52:37
  Speaker 6: get your free copy of Retirement Planning for Spouses that's
• 52:40
  Speaker 6: eight hundred three nine three for zero zero one, or
• 52:43
  Speaker 6: you can request it online at Armstrong Advisory dot com.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: Armstrong guide a specific financial, legal or tax advice. Consult
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: your own financial, tax into state planning advisors before making
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: any investment decisions. Armstrong may contact you to offer investment
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: advisory service. When the holidays roll in and the cold
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: settles over New England, find your escape and the US
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: Virgin Islands. Trade the freezing temps and gray skies for
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: warm sun, turquoise water, and that easy island energy you
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: can feel the Second u Land. This December through early January,
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: Saint Croix ignites with the Krucian Christmas Festival, a celebration
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: over a century old. Frederickstead comes alive with colorful parades,
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: live reggae, and streets filled with the sights and flavors
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: of real Caribbean culture. It's the holiday season with a
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: tropical beat. From there, the explore Saint Thomas with its
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: duty free shopping and the legendary views at Magan's Bay.
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: Or slow down on Saint John, where quiet beaches and
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: National Park trails make every day feel like your own
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: private adventure. Getting there could not be easier. No passport
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: is needed and there's no money to exchange. Just pack
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: light and step out of the cold into pure sunshine.
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: This holiday season, let yourself fall naturally in rhythm with
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: the heartbeat of the islands. Visit America's Caribbean paradise, the
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: US Virgin Islands. Go to visit USBI dot com and
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: book your trip today. That's visit USBI dot com.