Latest / The Legal Exchange / The pitfalls of giving away your assets

Transcript

The pitfalls of giving away your assets · 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 sixty 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, Todd Lutsky and Susan Powers.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Welcome into the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky. I'm Susan Powers,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: a financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group, and I'm
• 0:43
  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?
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: I am never better and you I'm excellent.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you. What do you have for us today?
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Couple of cases, Sir, We're going to go to Tennessee
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: where we have a Pellet court case actually, and then
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: a real life story case. So I guess one real
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: case and one court case. Nope, Nope, this one's interesting.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: It's about basically spendthrift clauses in trusts and protection from medicaid.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: How does that work? And actually, this case involves a
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: revocable trust and medicaid questions, which I know and we
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: know in reality those two don't mix very well. So
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: I will explain all of that to you in this case.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: And it's again a Tennessee case, so a little fact
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: specific and case specific, state specific. Excuse me, but we'll
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: come back to that and we'll explain how this revocable
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: trust and spendthrift language in the trust works or doesn't
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: work with a medicaid situation. Then I've got a real
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: life story situation for you where you know, at the
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: end of the day, you know doing the right thing
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: is not always the right thing. Is sort of what
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: happened here. And these are where parents had passed away
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: and a bunch of sisters or three siblings rather four
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: siblings got a piece of property and one sibling really
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: needed the house, so they put together a trust and
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: put the property all back into a trust, thinking it's
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: going to be there for that one sibling. And it
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: was a Nominee realty trust, and things don't always go
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: well with Nominee realty trusts. Even though you're trying to
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: do the right thing. What happens if the person who
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: you gave it to gets sick and goes to the
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: nursing home. Anyways, lots of questions need to be answered
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: there and we'll figure it out. And I think really
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: what it comes down to, folks, is is getting planning right,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: doing it right, and understanding what you're doing, because the
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: right thing isn't always the right thing, It just needs
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: to be done right. In this case, think about this
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: fact pattern, which was more of an ended up being
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: a gift. And that's what this guide is about this month,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: right making the most of gifting or not gifting, or
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: at least understand diff in fact you are gifting and
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: then what are the consequences of that gift, not only
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: from the state tax, from income tax step up in
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: basis medicaid right control issues. You don't think about what
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: did I give up when I gave this away? And
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: was it the right thing to do? This guide talks
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: about it from slats to putting things even jointly owned
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: and how that affects Medicaid and is a jointly owned
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: asset a completed gift Folks learn whether to make a
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: gift or not to make a gift, how to make
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: the gift, whether it's outright or to a gifting trust
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: for the kids, and all the consequences that go with it.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: Eight six six eight four eight five six ninety nine
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: or Legal Exchange show dot com Making the most of
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: Gifting Assets eight six six eight four eight five six
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot Com. Back to Tennessee. So,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: in this case, Vivian died on March tenh twenty twenty three,
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: but had been in a nursing home and received two
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: hundred and thirty one thousand dollars of care benefits from
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Tennessee Care. They call it ten Care there and Vivian
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: had created a revocable trust in twenty sixteen, and she
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: transferred title to her property to it to that trust. Well.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: TENCRE then petitioned the trial court to probate Vivian's estate.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Why because they're creditors of the estate. Right, Tencare paid
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: out two hundred and thirty one thousand dollars and wants
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: to be paid back. Well, the parties all agreed that
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: ten Care's claim was a valid claim a valid debt
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: of the estate, but the estate filed an exception, arguing
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: that since Vivian suffered from dementia and had diminished capacity
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: at the time of her death, and of course prior
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: to her death, and had transferred the property to the
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: revocable trust, that she didn't own the property, and that
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: the trust became irrevocable when she lost capacity. Thus it's
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: not subject to credit or claims. Yeah, you should be
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: looking at me funny like that, Susan, because you're absolutely right.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: That sounds very strange. Yeah, and it sounds strange to me,
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: but that was their argument. Well, the trial court didn't
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: like that argument at all, and it makes sense, right.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: The trial court denied the estate, denied the estate claim,
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: stating that even if Vivian lost capacity, it doesn't automatically
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: convert the revocable trust to irrevocable just because you lose capacity.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: And you'll know that when even in our trust, right,
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: you know, it's just because you become incapable of managing
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: the trust doesn't mean the trust became irrevocable because if
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: you're a donor, the power of attorney can act on
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: behalf of the donor and revoke the trust, so it's
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: not irrevocable at that point. So I do agree with
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: the court. Also, you know, regardless of the spendthrift provision
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: they said that was the property of the revocable trust,
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: are still subject to claims of the creditors. See appealed.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: The estate appealed as you might imagine, and the appellate
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: court affirmed, basically saying the Tennessee UTC Uniform Trust Code
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: states that, regardless of spendthrift language, property of a revocable
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: trust following the donor's death is still subject to the
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: set lawers creditors. That makes sense. It's you know, you
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: put spendthrift provision in for beneficiaries down the road, not
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: so much for that. So folks, I think they got
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: the answer right here. But I just want to make
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: some clear distinctions because this really should never have been
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: a medicaid issue to begin with. So medicaid trust versus
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: irrevocal trust very important to distinguish that a revocable trust
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: will never protect assets from the nursing home. It just
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: hard stop, right, it never starts the five year clock
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: from running. It's revocable. After all, if you can get it,
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: they can get it. And that's the case here, and
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: that's what this didn't become irrevocable when she lost capacity,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: and even if it did at that point, there'd be
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: a five year waiting period then. So that's how that is. Now.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Remember another thing to distinguish here is a state recovery
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: versus medicaid, right, and this is a state by state situation.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: So in Massachusetts, if this home was in an irrevocable trust,
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: then the asset would avoid state recovery because in Massachusetts
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: they can only specifically recover against probate assets of the
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: estate and assets in the trust avoid probate. So if
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: they set up an irrevocable trust and got past the
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: five year waiting period, then it would avoid probate, avoid
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: a state recovery, and be protected from the nursing home
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: not a revocable trust. But let's let's explore that a
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: little bit. So Massachusetts, like I say, specific so the
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: two hundred and thirty one thousand dollars would not be recovered.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: Other states like New Hampshire, says any asked any interest
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: you had in the real estate right before you died
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: would be countable like a licensed state A very good See.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I listened to you occasionally over the past twenty.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Years, like a life estate right that peace would be
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: at risk in New Hampshire. Now let's just play out
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: the string. Right, So a revocable trust like they had
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: here what happened in Massachusetts if you did this, If
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: you had a revocable trust in mass you never would
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: have been able to get on Medicaid to begin with. See.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: So this I don't know how Tennessee allowed this person
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: to get on Medicaid and run up a two hundred
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: and thirty one thousand dollars bill when the house was
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: in a revocable trust.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Do you think she transferred into the trust after she
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: was already in there and approved.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: No, she set the trust up in twenty sixteen. She didn't.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, she didn't die until twenty or sitting die
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: until twenty twenty three. So so no, I don't understand
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: that right if you set up a revocable trust in Massachusetts. Remember,
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: a home is non countable if you're married, if the
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: spouse is living there and owns it. If the trust
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: owns it, got to take it out right, put it back.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: If you're single, a house in Massachusetts is non countable.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: If you check a box saying I intend to return home,
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: and it's less than a million dollars in value, then
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: it's non countable but leanable. So in other words, if
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: it was in the revocable trust and you were single
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: like this case, and you applied for medicaid, you'd be
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: denied until you took it out. Why because now if
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: you die, you own it in your name. It's a
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: probate asset and they can recover from it. So that's
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: the difference, folks, And that's what needs to be understood here.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Just the whole case of here is revocable trusts don't
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: protect from a nursing home. Irrevocable do protect, folks. The
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: guide we're given away, though, is about gifting assets. Figure
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: out what's the best way to gift or not gift
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: eight sixty six eight four eight five six ninety nine
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: or Legal Exchange show dot com.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: You've been listening to Todd Lutsky. I'm a partner with
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: a law firm of Cushing and Dolan. I'm Susan Powers,
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: a financial advisor the Armstrong Advisory Group. We've got much
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: more to come when we return to the Legal Exchange
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: with Todd Lutsky.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Cushing and Dolan want to help you avoid costly mistakes
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: when it comes to gifting assets to your children. Their
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: brand new guide, Making the Most of Gifting Assets shares
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: crucial strategies to help you protect your legacy and your family.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Many people think gifting is always a good thing, but
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: if it's done the wrong way, they can create real headaches.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Even well intentioned gifts can cause complications if your children
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: are dealing with financial pressure or legal issues like a divorce.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: The guide also explains how a major gift like a
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: home or vacation property could come with hidden tax consequences
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: that may impact your entire estate plan. Before you make
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: any big moves, arm yourself with the facts and this
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: new guide from Cushing and Dolan. Call eight sixty six
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: eight four eight five six ninety nine right now to
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: get your copy. That's eight sixty six eight four eight
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: five six nine nine, or request it online at Legal
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Exchange Show dot com. That's Legal exchange show dot com.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for in the views expressed are
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: solely those of Cushing and Dolan. Cushing and Dolan in
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: or Armstrong Advisory may contact you offering legal investment services.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Cushing and Dolan Armstrong Advisory do not endorse each other.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: In are not affiliated.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: HI.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: This is Mike Armstrong from the Armstrong Advisory Group. If
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: you're approaching your seventies, you might be thinking about slowing
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: it down, but the IRS is just getting started. Required
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: minimum distributions, or rmds, kick in starting at age seventy three,
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: and if you were born in nineteen sixty or later,
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: that number jumps to seventy five. Rmds are more than
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: just a box to check. They can impact your taxes,
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: your income plan, and even what you leave to your heirs.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: If not done properly, it could mean big penalties, but
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: getting them right might help keep your money working for you.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: Our latest guide Understanding rmds breaks down how they work,
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: when to take them, and strategies that may make them
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: less of a tax headache and more of a financial opportunity.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: Request your copy today by calling eight hundred three nine
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: three four zero zero one, or by visiting Armstrong Advisory
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: dot com. That number again is eight hundred three nine
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: three four zero zero one or Armstrong Advisory dot Com.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Armstrong Guide specific financial, legal or tax advice. Consult your
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: own financial, tax into state planning advisors before making any
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: investment decisions. Armstrong may contact you to offer investment advisory services.
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: Mark Vonner is the CEO of Veterans Development Corporation. Mark
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: is a career military man, having served nearly twenty years,
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: and we are so proud to have him and his
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: business as a key partner and a presenting sponsor.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Of the DAV five K b Austin.
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: The DAV Department of Massachusetts does incredible work and it's
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: one of the first organizations that Mark became familiar with
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: after his military service ended back in nineteen eighty four.
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: As Mark built his company, he knew he'd be giving
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: back to fellow veterans who needed jobs, support services, medical supplies,
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: and so much more. Mark works with disabled veterans every
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: day and it's one of the key reasons why he's
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: such a big supporter of dan Stack, the DAV Department
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: of Massachusetts and the DAV five K Boston you can
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: join Mark Varner and his team and make a donation
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: to the DAV Department of Massachusetts or become a sponsor
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: of the DAV five K Boston. Simply visit DAV five
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: K dot Boston. That's DAV five k dot Boston.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: You're listening to the Legal Exchange with Todd Lunsky, an
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: expert in elder life planning and taxation. Need help with
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: your estate plan? Comp time right now and make an
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: appointment eight six six eight four eight five six ninety nine.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: That's eight six six eight four eight five six ninety nine.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Welcome back into the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky. I'm
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Susan Powers, a financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: and I'm joined by Todd Lutsky, a partner with a
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: law firm of Cushing A. Dolan with a master's in taxation.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Where we headed now, Todd, nowhere.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: We're realize through life. So check this out. So mom
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: and dad had passed away and they left property to
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: all four kids. The kids were well into their sixties
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: when the parents died. The one sister, Mary, let's call her,
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: had never married and had no kids and had retired,
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: and the siblings all agreed that, you know, the house,
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: that she really needed the house. So they decided to
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: set up a trust, which turned out to be a
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: realty trust, and and they put the property. They all
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: contributed the property to this realty trust. So the deed
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: went from four to to the trust for the trust YEP.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: The beneficiary schedule, the dreaded beneficiary schedule indicated that the
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: current beneficiary is one married.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Then schedular beneficiary.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: The schedule of beneficiaries was one hundred percent Mary current beneficiary.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: To them, this made sense because they wanted to make
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: sure that Mary was obligated to pay all the bills,
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: maintain it. She's living there, I get that. Well, she
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: owned it, so yeah, she was obligated to pay all
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: those bills and maintain it. And the contingent beneficiaries following
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: her death were the remaining siblings. Okay, that seems fine.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Can you do that on many realities?
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, just put one hundred percent and then following death, Yeah,
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: absolutely can do that. So the problem is as time
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: went went on, you know, Mary developed some dementia and
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: ended up moving in with one of the other siblings.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: So it's a nice family. This is a really you know, again,
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: doing the right thing is no good deed goes unpunished.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: And so they came in when Mary had moved in
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: with one of the siblings and they said, well, we're
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: wondering the status of this house, so who owns it
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: and what's protected if Mary declines further and needs to
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: enter a nursing home. That was why they came in.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: So I'm like, let's take a look at everything, and
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: I tried to figure out how everything was owned and
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: explain to them that yeah, it looks like Mary owns
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: the house one hundred percent. So they said, well, what
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: happens if she goes into the into the nursing home. Well,
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: I want to give you all that, but I want
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: to remind you that this was a completed gift through
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: a Nominee realty trust and that brings can't help but
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: bring me to this guide because this is exactly what
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: we talk about. In fact, that's in the guide is
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: then is dealing with Nominee realty trusts, and you know
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: sometimes they're not you don't think about it, but that's
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: a completed gift. So so making the most of gifting
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: assets or not gifting assets is the guide and understand
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: that sometimes even when you don't think you made a gift,
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: you made a gift. And then other times when you
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: might set up a joint account thinking you made a gift,
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: you actually didn't make a gift. But then from a
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: medicaid perspective, how you own things jointly could affect what's
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: countable and what's not countable. And you need to understand
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: that there are income tax issues. When you give away things,
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: you lose the step up in basis that I might
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: be saving a state taxes, but that might not be
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: the smartest thing to do. Or maybe I want to
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: give things to my kids but control it. Maybe gifting
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: trusts are a better way to go, you know, figure
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: out whether to gift or not to gift, and even
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: how to gift and retain control and enjoy what you
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: give away. This guide explains all of that, including spousal
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: lifetime access trusts eight six six eight four eight five
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: six nine nine or Legal exchange Show dot com. Get
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: the guide i'd eight six six eight four eight five
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: six nine nine or Legal exchange Show dot com. Let's
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: go back to this what what are we learning here? Right?
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: And again we learned that they made a gift, and
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: they didn't realize they made a gift. First and foremost, remember, folks,
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: short answer is nomine realty trusts never are great trusts
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: to use. You know, we always say stay away from
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: them because they are often misunderstood. So in fact, here
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: the siblings in essence gifted their entire property to Mary
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: by titling it to her, well, not to her, but
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: to a trust that's a Nominee realty trust that indicated
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: Mary was the one hundred percent beneficiary of the trust.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Which doesn't mean she's got to die to be that beneficiary.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: She's the owner now, right, And that's exactly the point, right,
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: And these kinds of trusts, they're not really trust, they're
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: principal agency relationships. Cause a Nominee realty trust, and go
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: look it up. A few have one of these. The
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Nominee realty trust will have language in it that says
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: the trustee has no power to act unless directed by
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: the beneficiary.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: In which this case would be just Mary at this point.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: Just Mary. So Mary's really the one who owns the property,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: and so Mary now has it one hundred percent. So
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: they didn't even realize that they made a completed gift
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: when they put this in here. And so that's again
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: why you need to get this guide, folks. Gifting is
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: not the easiest thing to do. Feels good, but it's
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: not always the smartest thing to do. Or make sure
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: you know how to do.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: It, do it yourself. Legal work not.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Good, not good, definitely not a good idea. And so
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: now the question is, well, what what what happens? What's
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: at risk? What's not at risk? You know, if we
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: gift it back to them, you know they you have to.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: I'm sure they don't even file a gift tax return.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: But what's at risk? Well, one hundred percent of the
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: home is at risk, I tried to explain to them, right,
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: not just the one quarter with which is what they
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: thought was at risk. Remember they each had a quarter interest,
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: which is only the way it was owned prior to transfer. Yep, Okay. Now,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: at least if Mary gets sick, the house could come
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: out of the trust to her. We could check a
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: box that she intends to return home and it would
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: become non countable but leanable. So that's helpful. So I
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: explained to them if she was starting to decline quickly,
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: that this is what we could do. For this house.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Helpful, but you got to keep your fingers cross it.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: The lean is only one quarter of the value.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you hope it doesn't doesn't eat up the whole house.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: But again it'll be leveraged because it'll be a Medicaid rate.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: So it's it's better than nothing. Okay, Well, can we
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: return to back the way it was, Well, we could,
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: but it would create a five year waiting period, so.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: You know, and now it would be a risk for
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: all of them.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: Right, what am I going to do? Now, take and
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: put it back? Well, we could take it and put
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: it back, and then you know, it's a year, a
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: five year waiting period. But I'm saying, if you're going
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: to do that, and she's home living with another sibling,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: and we have time, if we have time, we might
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: as well just have her set up a Medicaid irrevocable trust.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: Now take the property out, put it in to a
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: regular Medicaid irrevocable trust. The same five year waiting period
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: will result, as it would if she took it and
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: gave it back one quarter one quarter one quarter. The
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: difference and the better side of it is at the
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: end of the five years, not only is it protected.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: But when Mary passes and it goes to these three
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: other siblings. If Mary passes first, they will inherit it
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: with a step up in basis and that will eliminate
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: the built in capital gain on the property. So that's
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: actually better for the siblings than getting it now and
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: crossing their fingers for five years.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: And if she doesn't make the five years, it can
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: always come out to get her qualified the lean.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a great point, right, You're no worse off
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: because you would put it back the way it would
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: be now and she would check a box that she
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: intends to return home on the application and then apply
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: for medicaid and they'd put a lien on it. Arguably,
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: there's this sibling exception that could exist where I guess
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: if the siblings have an equity interest in the property
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: and the individual who went in the nursing home and
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: they lived there for at least one year, So that wouldn't.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Work short straw, who's moving.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: In Yeah, No one would be moving in there. They
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: all have their own houses, so so that little sibling
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: exception wouldn't work. So I think we're back to the
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: idea of this putting it, getting it out of where
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: it is, putting it in a Medicaid income only trust,
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: getting the five year clock started, and moving moving forward. So, folks,
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: I just think at the end of the day, you know,
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: you really need some guidance when you're doing things. Doing
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: it yourself, as you said, Susan, is really what got
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: them in trouble here. Or perhaps they went to the
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: wrong lawyer who told them to set up a nominee
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: realty trust. So you know, I'll always pick your estate
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: planning lawyer. Make sure that's what they do.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're real estate lawyer, right, folks.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: This this guide is about making the most of gifting
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: assets because in this case, setting up nominee realty trusts
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: inadvertently created a gift and they didn't even realize it.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: So learn how to make a gift the right way.
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: Get the guide eight six six eight four eight five
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: six nine nine or Legal Exchange show dot com.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: You've been listening to Todd Lutsky, a partner with the
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: law firm of Cushing A. Dolan. I'm Susan Power as
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: a financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group, and Todd
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: will be answering your listener questions when we return to
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Cushing and Dolan want to help you avoid costly mistakes
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: when it comes to gifting assets to your children. Their
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: brand new guide Making the Most of Gift Assets shares
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: crucial strategies to help you protect your legacy and your family.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Many people think gifting is always a good thing, but
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: if it's done the wrong way, they can create real headaches.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Even well intentioned gifts can cause complications if your children
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: are dealing with financial pressure or legal issues like a divorce.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: The guide also explains how a major gift like a
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: home or vacation property could come with hidden tax consequences
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: that may impact your entire estate plan. Before you make
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: any big moves, arm yourself with the facts and this
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: new guide from Cushing and Dolan. Call eight six six
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: eight four eight five six ninety nine right now to
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: get your copy. That's eight sixty six eight four eight
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: five six nine nine, or request it online at Legal
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: exchainshow dot com. That's Legal exchange show dot com. The
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: proceeding is paid for in the views expressed are solely
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: those of Cushing and Dolan. Cushing and Dolan and or
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Armstrong Advisory may contact you offering legal investment services. Cushing
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: and Dolan Armstrong Advisory do not endorse each other and
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: are not affiliated.
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: This is Michael Valila, adjutant of the Disabled American Veterans
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: Department of Massachusetts. We pride ourselves on being able to
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: support veterans in their time of greatest need, ensuring they
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: receive the protections they deserve. For over one hundred years,
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: the Davy of Massachusetts has helped thousands of veterans with housing,
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: transportation and medical assistance, and you can help too. Please
• 25:13
  Speaker 6: visit DAV fivek dot Boston and make a donation today.
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: That's dav fivek dot Boston.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: The US Virgin Islands aren't just stunning, they're thriving and
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: continue to be one of the hottest spots for vacationers
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: in the Caribbean. New cruise poured upgrades, better air connections,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: and a sharper focus on cultural experiences are putting the
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: islands back on the map for travelers seeking something special.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Saint Thomas is your cruise hub, known for duty free
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: shopping in the world famous Megan's Bay. Saint John is
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: pure escape with national park heikes, secluded beaches and tropical tranquility.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Saint Croix brings the history with colonial architecture, old sugar
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: mills and vibrant coral reefs. Visit one island or all
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: three and get plenty of pampering, undisturbed nature, and a
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: vibe like no other, all jammed into one vacation with
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: easy travel from New England, no passport required and no
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: money to exchange. Paradise is closer than you think this fall.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Plan your getaway and fall naturally in rhythm with the
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: heartbeat of the islands in America's Caribbean. Visit USVII dot
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: com and book your trip today. That's visit USVII dot com.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: Hi, this is Mike Armstrong from the Armstrong Advisory Group.
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: Turning seventy isn't just another birthday. It's when the clock
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: starts ticking on your retirement withdrawals. At age seventy three
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: or at age seventy five if you were born in
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: nineteen sixty year later, you need to start withdrawing money
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: from your IRA. They're called required minimum distributions and missing
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: one can mean big penalties. Taking the rmds at the
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: wrong time can also spike your tax bill. Even the
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: type of account matters since your IRA and four O
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: one K follow different rules, which could get confusing fast.
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: Our new guide is called Understanding Required Minimum Distributions. It
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: breaks the process down in simple terms so you know
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: when to start, how much to take, and ways to
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: manage the tax impact. Request your copy today by calling
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: eight hundred three nine three four zero zero one. That's
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: eight hundred three nine three four zero zero one or
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: Armstrong Advisory dot com.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Armstrong guide a specific financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: your own financial tax into state planning advisors before making
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: any investment decisions. Armstrong may contact you to offer investment
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: advisory services. You're listening to the Legal Exchange and it's
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: time for Ask Todd, the segment where Todd will answer
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: your questions about anything and everything that's included in the
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: estate planning process. Once again, here's Todd Lutsky and Susan Powers.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Welcome back. Todd. Have a few questions from listeners for you.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: First one's a little long, so I'm going to give
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: you the question and then I'll give you some summarization.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: So Paul from Belmont, mass writes, I'm fifty nine, have
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: no children, and I'm not married. I have a rental
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: property and a second home, as well as roughly three
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: million in retirement accounts and investment account.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: Okay, I'm already lost. No, just kidding, God, you got this.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: I have two brothers, one that I care for who
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: lives with me if I pass before them. I want
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: to make sure my brother is cared for and that
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: I can help out my other brother. I also want
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: to help out my nephews. I'm not sure I want
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: my brother's spouse or my nephew's spouses to receive assets
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: if they pass. I Also, here's the kicker, I don't
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: want the government to tax anyone if possible. What do
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: you recommend? Do you have a magic trust that can
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: fill all these requests? I love this guy so basically
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: three things. Primarily his brother who he takes care of.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: He wants to be cared for. He wants to get
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: rid of the spouses getting their clutches on anything, and
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: he wants no tax. Yeah, how do you accomplish that?
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: So easy? The nice part about it is, folks, and
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: this is really what trust planning is all about you
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: can do anything you want pretty much. Yeah, pretty much,
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: And let me explain it seems complicated, but no, the
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: trust will allow this. Right. You can't just put designated
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: beneficiaries on accounts and get this right, right, You can't.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: That can't be done. But boy, or a trust, you can. Okay.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: So let's assume first that at fifty nine, not married,
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: he has no children, so we're I assume I can't
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: assume he might be saying, I want to actually take
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: care of my brother, so I want to protect the
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: assets for them. I don't think medicaid right away. Number
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: sixty and over is my magic age to sort of
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: talk to people about protecting assets from the nursing home.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: And so in this case, you know, I might say,
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: you know, does it matter that these people just get
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: whatever's left when you die, or do you really want
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: to make sure there's something there to take care of.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Somebody If he's caring for his brother. It may be
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: that the brother can't work, right, maybe he's disabled.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: There probably some kind of benefits from the government.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: So it sounds like the answer is yes, I probably
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: need to make sure something is there for at least
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: my brother. And if I'm going to do that, well,
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: then the others will benefit as well, because if it's protected,
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: it's protected. So that's the first hurdle. Let's say we
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: get over that and they say, yes, I want the
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: trust that we're going to talk about to be irrevocable
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: from the get go. Fine, then we will put the
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: assets into it. A house, he's got a rental property,
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: I'll put that in. Maybe we even set up an
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: LLC for the rental property so that that can provide
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: him protection from creditors during his life, ye Paul's life,
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: and then put the shares of the LLC into the
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: irrevocable trust so that that would be protected. The home
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: and some of his money, not iras and things like that,
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: but other assets into the trust. And once it's in
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: the trust, the five years goes by, it's protected from
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: the nursing home, it avoids probate. He's living his life. Fine,
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: then what then he passes? But because we did that trust,
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: we now know there'll be something in there for them. Right, Okay,
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: now we have carve outs. Okay, well, depends on what
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: the brother needs. Maybe the brother needs that place to live,
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: so hold the property located at in trust, Maybe tuck
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: away some money into that trust bucket to pay the
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: bills to maintain that that trust property for him, and
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: then say, you know, upon his passing, this can go
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: to my foreur nephews. You know, who knows if that's
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: ultimately what they want. Or I guess he's got another sibling.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: He's got two brothers, one he takes care of and
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: one his other brother.
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: And again that those are probably the children of the brothers.
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: So so you know, you could say, hold this in
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: trust for my disabled brother. Let's say first, maybe hold
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: everything in trust for my brother first, then to my
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: other brother and the kids. Right, and you can either
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: carve it up or you could give it all to
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: the other sibling and then down the line from there.
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: So there's many ways that this can be done. But
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: the answer is it can be done, and yes, Paul,
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: you should do it, and you should set up an
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: ir probably an irrevocable trust, if that's the goal. But
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: all of your wishes can be accomplished through a trust,
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: and not in this case necessarily by gifting assets away,
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: which is what the guide is about. Folks. Don't just
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: gift assets away. Remember The biggest example is just because
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: you give it away doesn't mean it's better for taxes.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Because if you don't have a death tax because you're
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: under thirteen million dollars in change, then I'm not saving
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: forty percent. So what am I saving? While I'm saving
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: ten percent for mass But I'm trapping capital gains tax
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: because I lose the step up in basis which is
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: twenty eight point eight percent. Well that's not helpful. So
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: always got to think about income tax, estate tax when
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: making a gift. Then think about how to make the
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: gift outright to a trust and even yourself if you
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: want to give it away and retain control and benefits
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: over it. Learn how SLATS spousal Lifetime Access trust works.
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: So much to think about when giving. Don't just gift.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: Get the guide eight six six eight four eight five
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: six ninety nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com again
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: eight six six eight four eight five six nine nine
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: or Legal Exchange Show dot Com. Making the most of
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: gifting assets.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Our last question comes from Gene in Westboro, mass and
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: Gene writes, my husband and I set up a joint
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: irrevocable trust many years ago with you. He passed away
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: and we funded the remainder share with around half of
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: the proceeds. Can I now use the money that is
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: in the two trust accounts to improve my vacation property.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: Should I use the funds and the remainder share or
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: the original trust? Is there a benefit to using one
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: versus the other? And are there any restrictions?
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: Well that's a lot of questions. That's a lot more
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: than one question.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: Well, all right, well that's okay. The people want to know.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: People want to know. All right, here we go. So
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: the great the joint trust work. It established these two buckets,
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: the marital share and the remainder share, and depending on
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: the size of the estate, is going to help me
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: answer the question right, because I won't know what's in
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: each bucket. Let's assume that there was two million dollars
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: in the joint EREV trust. Then if that's the case,
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: because it's an EREV trust, only half is included on
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: the first death, So one million would end up in
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: the remainder share because that's all that's included, and one
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: million is less than two million, which is the estate
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: tax exemption for Massachusetts. Never Mind that I made the
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: value of the estate the value of the trust two million.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: That's a coincidence. So because it's less than the two
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: million dollar estate tax exemption, and the estate of the
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: first to die is only half the assets, then one
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: million would be in the remainder share. Well, that answers
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: the first question. So if the asset is in the
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: remainder share and the house is in the remainder share,
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: then yes, I'm going to use the money in the
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: remainder share to fix up the house. Okay, no restriction there.
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: Remember that's just using assets of a trust to fix
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: up another asset in the trust. It's not taking money
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: out and putting it in the spouse's pocket. So remember
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: one is dead. The money in that remainder share has
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: language in it that says and again since it's a
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: medicaid trust, it says income to spouse who's alive. But
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: principle it cannot go to the spouse much the same
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: way it said when they were both alive, you had
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: no access to the principle, at least not directly, so
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: that part hasn't changed. So whatever's in that remainder share,
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: if it's generating interest and dividends or rent, that can
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: come out to the spouse. Okay, if it's got principle
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: in it, like a half a million dollar portfolio and
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: a half a million dollar home, that half a million
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: dollar portfolio is principal. While it can't come out to
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: the pocket of the spouse, it can be used to
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: fix up other assets in there.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: Okay, So if it's half, if half the house is
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: in the remainder share and half the house is in
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: the original is there a benefit to using one versus
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: the other.
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: Not really, because what's in the remainder share is already
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: outside of the estate of the surviving spouse. Yep, right,
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: And again, spending it to fix up a house doesn't
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: really change the value of anything. It just reduces the
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: cash side and increases the value of the real estate side, right.
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: Whereas if it's the part that's in the estate the
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: other half the original trust that's in the estate of
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: the survivor, same thing just reduces the cash and increases there.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: So not really no restrictions, but again more showing you
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: the flexibility of these irrevocable trusts even after one dies.
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: Folks figure out the best way to gift assets or
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: not to gift assets, call and get the guide eight
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: sixty six eight four eight, five, six, nine nine, or
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: go to the website Legal Exchange Show dot com.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: If you have a question you would like to ask Todd,
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: visit his website Legal Exchange Show dot com and submit
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: your questions there. You've been listening to Todd Lutski, a
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: part and with the law firm of Cushing and Dolan.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: I'm Susan Powers, a financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: Be right back with more on the Legal Exchange with
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: Todd Lutsky.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Cushing and Dolan want to help you avoid costly mistakes
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: when it comes to gifting assets to your children. Their
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: brand new guide Making the Most of Gifting Assets shares
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: crucial strategies to help you protect your legacy and your family.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: Many people think gifting is always a good thing, but
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: if it's done the wrong way, they can create real headaches.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: Even well intentioned gifts can come complications if your children
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: are dealing with financial pressure or legal issues like a divorce.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: The guide also explains how a major gift like a
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: home or vacation property could come with hidden tax consequences
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: that may impact your entire estate plan. Before you make
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: any big moves, arm yourself with the facts and this
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: new guide from Cushing and Dolan. Call eight six six
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: eight four eight five six ninety nine right now to
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: get your copy. That's eight sixty six eight four eight
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: five six ninety nine, or request it online at legal
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: exchange show dot com. That's legal exchange show dot com.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for. The views expressed are solely
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: those of Cushing and Dolan. Cushing and Dolan and or
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Armstrong Advisory may contact you offering legal investment services. Cushing
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: and Dolan Armstrong Advisory do not endorse each other and
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: are not affiliated.
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: HI.
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: This is Mike Armstrong from the Armstrong Advisory Group. If
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: you're approaching your seventies, you might be thinking about slowing
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: it down, but the IRS is just getting started.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: Required minimum distributions, or.
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: Rmds, kick in starting at age seventy three, and if
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: you were born in nineteen sixty or later, that number
• 38:56
  Speaker 4: jumps to seventy five. Rmds are more than just a
• 38:58
  Speaker 4: box to check. They can taxes, your income plan and
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: even what you leave to your heirs. If not done properly,
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: it could mean big penalties, but getting them right might
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: help keep your money working for you. Our latest guide
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: Understanding rmds breaks down how they work, when to take them,
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: and strategies that may make them less of a tax
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: headache and more of a financial opportunity. Request your copy
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: today by calling eight hundred three nine three for zero
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: zero one, or by visiting Armstrong Advisory dot Com. That
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: number again is eight hundred three nine three four zero
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: zero one or Armstrong Advisory dot Com.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or any Armstrong
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: guide a specific financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult your
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: own financial tax into state planning advisors before making any
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: investment decisions. Armstrong make contact you to offer investment advisory services.
• 39:42
  Speaker 5: Mark Vonner is the CEO of Veterans Development Corporation. His
• 39:46
  Speaker 5: dedication to serving our veterans has made an incredible impact
• 39:50
  Speaker 5: on his family and employees, and he is so proud
• 39:53
  Speaker 5: to be the presenting sponsor of the DAV five K Boston.
• 39:57
  Speaker 7: My name is Ashley Vonner, Director of Operations, Veterans Development Corporation.
• 40:01
  Speaker 7: I wanted to learn the family business under the guidance
• 40:04
  Speaker 7: of my father, Mark Bonner. BDC is more than a
• 40:07
  Speaker 7: general contractor. It's a service disabled veteran owned small business
• 40:11
  Speaker 7: that goes above and beyond for the veteran community. With
• 40:14
  Speaker 7: Mark's military background serving in the Marine Corps, our company
• 40:17
  Speaker 7: is committed to supporting the disabled American Veterans. Department of
• 40:21
  Speaker 7: Massachusetts BDC has been the presenting sponsor for the DAV
• 40:25
  Speaker 7: five K for many years, striving to spread awareness of
• 40:28
  Speaker 7: this great organization. Working for Veterans Development Corporation has shaped
• 40:32
  Speaker 7: me into the person I am today, and I am
• 40:34
  Speaker 7: proud to be a part of this organization.
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: Please visit DAV five K dot Boston to show your support.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Today your tune to the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: If you were a loved one needs a nursing homes day,
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: call Todd right now at eight six six eight four
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: eight five six ninet nine and let him make sure
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: your assets are protected. That's eight sixty six eight for
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: eight five six nine nine, or visit him online at
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: Legal Exchshow dot com.
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: Welcome back into the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky. I'm
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: Susan Powers, a financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group,
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: and I'm joined, of course by Todd Lutsky, a partner
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: with the law firm of Cushing A. Dolan with a
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: master's in taxation todd. For a lot of people, their
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: house is their biggest asset and they don't realize that
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: when they put a child's name on it, that they're
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: actually gifting the asset to them. So I just want
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: to go over some of the pitfalls of doing this,
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: both adding your child to the deed so it's you
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: and your child and then outright putting your child's name
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: on basically taking.
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: Yourself off, completely off, completely off. Yeah.
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: So, okay, there's got to be some pros to adding
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: your child. Because nothing's black and white, very gray in
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: the legal world. What are some of the benefits of
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: putting your child's name on as a joint owner on
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: your primary presidence.
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: You think, I'm gonna let me, let me think really
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: long and hard.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: I know you don't like that and you would never
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: recommend that. However, if someone's done it, let's say, what
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: are the silver linings that you've done this?
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: So I assume we're saying it's it's not we're adding
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: not a spouse, we're adding a child. Child. Yeah, so
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: when you put a child's name on the deed, is
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: there a benefit. I can see one silver little lining. Okay, Yeah,
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: it's a very little lining. It would allow the property
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: at your death to automatically pass to the surviving joint owner,
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: assuming it's jointly held, not tenants by the entirety. That's
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: a difference. If you add a child's name to your
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: deed and it says, let's say, you know, Todd and
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: Jake tenants by the entirety, that's not even going to
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: avoid probate.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: But if it says Todd and Jake joint owners, yeah,
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: the rights of the vivorship, then on death of Todd,
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: it would automatically go to Jake and it would avoid probate.
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: So that is probably the only thing that I can
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: see that would be the remote And I'm reluctant to
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: even say it's a positive, but because it's so many
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: negatives are going to outweigh that. But I just want
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: to do one at a time, one.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: At a time. Yeah, okay, all right, so we avoid probate, yay, yay.
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: Kind of what happens if you end up going into
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: a nursing home and your primary residence is owned jointly
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: with your child, how do they treat that? House.
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: Wow, Susan trying to find another posity here?
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: Is that a positive?
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: Well kind of is?
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: So? Okay?
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: Only half, so it's half a positive. The house would
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: be at risk for the.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: Nursing as long as it was five years.
• 44:11
  Speaker 3: Long, as it was five years ago, right, five years ago, Yes,
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: I would. I'm going to say yes on the five years.
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: So that's that's interesting because it's only half owned by
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: the individual. Unlike a joint bank account with a child
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: that's still deemed one hundred percent for medicaid owned by
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: the person going in the nursing home unless the other
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: owner can prove contribution. So very different. Joint bank account
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: with a third with a third party not a spouse, yeah,
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: versus house.
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: Okay, So let's go down the path the timeline a
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: little bit further. So you go into the nursing home.
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: Did they put a lean on your half of the
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: house a single individual?
• 44:58
  Speaker 7: Right?
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes, they're going to put lean on that half
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: of the house, which is not good for the other
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: half owner.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: So in this case, even if it were beyond the
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: five year period, you go into the nursing home, they've
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: put a lien on that house, and now your child
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: when you die, they have to pay off that lian
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: and what if they don't have money to pay it
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: off and they're living at that house.
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: So here's the interesting dilemma you have with that. Arguably
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: the state might say you have to change this to
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: tenants in common in order for it to be not countable,
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: oh right, because it would avoid probate if they left
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: it that way. Now, if they don't catch it, it
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: would avoid probate and the lean would go away at
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: death because you can't recover against non probate assets. So
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: that would be a very interesting play. It would be
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: really interesting to see what the state does during the
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: application process if they came across that form of ownership.
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: That if they're doing their jobs right, and it would
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: technically purposes of this conversation they.
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: Are, they would say change it.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: Okay, so change it and then and then maybe you'd
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: have bigger pickles. Then you have bigger problems for sure. So, folks,
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: these questions that Susan's asking really do make the reason
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: for getting the guide so important, right, making the most
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: of gifting assets right.
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: Think about it. Jointly held assets for medicaid purposes is
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: different than jointly held assets for gift tax purposes. Right,
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: did I make a gift? Yeah, if it's if it's
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: jointly owned. Maybe not because you didn't actually cut the
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: string yet. But with real estate, yeah, you made half
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: a gift, but put a name on a joint bank
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: account or joint brokerage account for gift tax purposes, no
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: gift is made until you actually take out the money.
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: So figure out all the estate and in tax benefits
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: and negatives to making gifts and how to do it.
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: Call and get the guide eight six six eight four
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: eight five six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot
• 47:11
  Speaker 3: com again eight six six eight four eight five six
• 47:15
  Speaker 3: nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com.
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: So they make you, They force you to put a
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: tenants in common so they can put a lien on
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: the half of the house that is owned by mom.
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: So then Mom passes away, and let's say Billy's living
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: at that house and Billy has no other asset, so
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: Billy's forced to you know, sell. Maybe Billy can't get
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: a mortgage because you have horrible credits. So sure, there's
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: a reason why you have a child. You put a
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: child on sometimes, right, So he sells that house? How
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: is that handled from a tax perspective.
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: So is it being sold well the person one joint
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: owner is still in the nursing home, or after the.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: Joint owner died after they died, So.
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: After they died, assuming it was left joint YEP, if
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: it was left joint, then likely the house would just
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: automatically avoid probate pass to the surviving.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: Nope, not tenants in common forced us to change it.
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: So what does he have to do now he has
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: to sell the house because he can't pay the lien.
• 48:13
  Speaker 3: Right, So, now, if it's tenants by the entirety or
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: tenants in common, excuse me, then you're right, that would
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: end up being owned one half in the estate of
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: the decedent. It would be a probate asset and the
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: lian would attach for Medicaid estate recovery. And so when
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: the property gets sold, and again let's say the will
• 48:38
  Speaker 3: leaves it to that same same joint owner, so the
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: joint owner ends up owning one hundred percent of the
• 48:44
  Speaker 3: house and and that's fine, but when that joint owner
• 48:50
  Speaker 3: goes to sell the property, then the lean will have
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: to be satisfied. So if if it's if it's a
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: two hundred thousand dollars, Lian and I sell it for
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: eight hundred thousand. Two hundred thousand gets paid off back
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: to the state. The other individual walks away with six
• 49:08
  Speaker 3: hundred thousand. However, there would be a half step up
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: in basis for capital gains tax perpose moms half, yes,
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: for Mom's half, So the surviving joint owner would have
• 49:19
  Speaker 3: less capital gains tax to pay because of that step up.
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: But let's say he didn't live there with mom. So
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: now when he sells that, when she had originally gifted
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: him half of it, because that's what she did. Essentially
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: by putting his name on she gifted him half her
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: cost basis, which could be teeny tiny if she lived
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: there for a long time.
• 49:40
  Speaker 3: But at least it would only be half of the
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: gain subject to tax.
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: Which as an alternative if instead, as a better route,
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: she transferred into her trust, her irrevocable trust. How would
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: all this shake out when he does so.
• 49:55
  Speaker 3: If it was in an irrevocable medicaid trust at the
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: end of and let's assume five years had gone by
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: before she went to the nursing home. Yep, Wow, Now
• 50:04
  Speaker 3: we have no probate issues, We have no lean to
• 50:08
  Speaker 3: deal with by the state. We don't have to worry
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: about releasing any leans, we don't have to worry about
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: paying back the state for any benefits, and the kid
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: still gets it with a full step up in basis,
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: eliminating all the built in capital gain, no taxes. Boy, folks,
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: sometimes giving away things ends up worse than keeping them,
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: and planning doesn't mean you can't gift, So please get
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: the guide learn how to make the most of your
• 50:34
  Speaker 3: gifting do it right eight six six eight four eight
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: five six ninety nine or Legal Exchange show dot com
• 50:42
  Speaker 3: and you can download it right there.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: Todd Lutsky from the law firm of Cushing and Dolan,
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: thank you so much.
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Susan, always a pleasure.
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: I'm Susan Power as a financial advisor with the Armstrong
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: Advisory Group. We thank you for joining us today and
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: we'll be back again next week on the Legal Exchange
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: with Todd, Lutsky and Dolan.
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: Want to help you avoid costly mistakes when it comes
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: to gifting assets to your children. Their brand new guide
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: Making the Most of Gifting Assets shares crucial strategies to
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: help you protect your legacy and your family. Many people
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: think gifting is always a good thing, but if it's
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: done the wrong way, they can create real headaches. Even
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: well intentioned gifts can cause complications if your children are
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: dealing with financial pressure or legal issues like a divorce.
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: The guide also explains how a major gift like a
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: home or vacation property could come with hidden tax consequences
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: that may impact your entire estate plan. Before you make
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: any big moves, arm yourself with the facts and this
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: new guide from Cushing and Dolan. Call eight sixty six
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: eight four eight five six ninety nine right now to
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: get your copy. That's eight sixty six eight four eight
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: five six nine nine, or request it online at Legal
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: exchange show dot com. That's legal exchange show dot com.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: The proceeding is paid for in The views expressed are
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: solely those of Cushing and Dolan. Cushing and Dolan and
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: or Armstrong Advisory may contact you offering legal investment services.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: Cushing and Dolan Armstrong Advisory do not endorse each other
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: and are not affiliated HI.
• 52:00
  Speaker 4: This is Mike Armstrong from the Armstrong Advisory Group. Turning
• 52:02
  Speaker 4: seventy isn't just another birthday. It's when the clock starts
• 52:05
  Speaker 4: ticking on your retirement withdrawals at age seventy three or
• 52:08
  Speaker 4: at age seventy five if you were born in nineteen
• 52:10
  Speaker 4: sixty year later, you need to start withdrawing money from
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: your IRA. They're called required minimum distributions, and missing one
• 52:16
  Speaker 4: can mean big penalties. Taking the rmds at the wrong
• 52:19
  Speaker 4: time can also spike your tax bill. Even the type
• 52:21
  Speaker 4: of account matters, since your IRA and four oh one
• 52:24
  Speaker 4: K follow different rules, which could get confusing fast. Our
• 52:27
  Speaker 4: new guide is called Understanding Required Minimum Distributions. It breaks
• 52:31
  Speaker 4: the process down in simple terms so you know when
• 52:33
  Speaker 4: to start, how much to take, and ways to manage
• 52:36
  Speaker 4: the tax impact. Request your copy today by calling eight
• 52:39
  Speaker 4: hundred three nine three four zero zero one. That's eight
• 52:42
  Speaker 4: hundred three nine three four zero zero one or Armstrong
• 52:45
  Speaker 4: Advisory dot com.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: Armstrong guide is 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 services. The US Virgin Islands aren't just stunning, they're
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: thriving and continue to be one of the hottest spots
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: for vacationers in the Caribbean. New cruise poured upgrades, better
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: air connections, and a sharper focus on cultural experiences are
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: putting the islands back on the map for travelers seeking
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: something special. Saint Thomas is your cruise hub, known for
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: duty free shopping in the world famous Megan's Bay. Saint
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: John is pure escape with national parkikes, secluded beaches and
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: tropical tranquility. Saint Croix brings the history with colonial architecture,
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: old sugar mills and vibrant coral reefs. Visit one island
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: or all three and get plenty of pampering, undisturbed nature,
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: and a vibe like no other, all jimmed into one
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: vacation with easy travel from New England, no passport required
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: and no money to exchange. Paradise is closer than you
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: think this fall. Plan your getaway and fall naturally in
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: rhythm with the heartbeat of the islands in America's Caribbean.
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: Visit USVII dot com and book your trip today. That's
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: visit USVII dot com.