Latest / The Legal Exchange / Estate planning for unmarried partners
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- 0:01Speaker 1: This is the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky from the
- 0:04Speaker 1: law firm of Cushing and Dolan and Susan Powers of
- 0:07Speaker 1: the Armstrong Advisory Group. Each week, Todd and Susan will
- 0:10Speaker 1: discuss many topics, including estate planning, how to avoid probate,
- 0:13Speaker 1: and protecting your money from a nursing home. If you
- 0:16Speaker 1: need assistance in any of these areas, or have a
- 0:18Speaker 1: question about another issue that may affect your future, call
- 0:21Speaker 1: eight six six eight four eight five six ninety nine
- 0:24Speaker 1: to make an appointment. That's eight sixty six eight four
- 0:27Speaker 1: eight five six ninety nine. Operators are standing by. Now
- 0:31Speaker 1: Here are your hosts, Tod Lutsky and Susan Powers.
- 0:36Speaker 2: Welcome into the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky. I'm Susan Powers,
- 0:40Speaker 2: a financial advisor the Armstrong Advisory Group, and I'm joined
- 0:44Speaker 2: by Todd Lutsky, a partner with the law firm of
- 0:46Speaker 2: Cushing and Dolan with a master's in taxation. Welcome Todd.
- 0:50Speaker 3: How are you today? I am never better you, I'm great?
- 0:54Speaker 3: Thank you. What do you have for us this week?
- 0:55Speaker 3: Let's see a couple of cases. We're going to head
- 0:57Speaker 3: to DC where we've got an appellate court case dealing
- 1:00Speaker 3: with when are you common law married? And how do
- 1:07Speaker 3: you know? And does it matter if it's contested or
- 1:10Speaker 3: not if nobody challenges that you're actually married and everybody
- 1:15Speaker 3: just assumes you are, does that matter from every estate
- 1:19Speaker 3: planning perspective in this case, you're going to see how
- 1:22Speaker 3: it might impact social security benefits. You wouldn't think about it,
- 1:26Speaker 3: but folks lots to think about here, not just that
- 1:28Speaker 3: little piece, more about having a common law marriage, or
- 1:32Speaker 3: even if you're not married, being a significant other. Who
- 1:34Speaker 3: cares If I'm married, I still need to plan if
- 1:37Speaker 3: I love my significant other even more so, and again
- 1:41Speaker 3: if we're common law married, it'll be interesting to see
- 1:44Speaker 3: how that plays out. So that's step one. Then we
- 1:48Speaker 3: head over to Indiana and we've got an appellate court
- 1:51Speaker 3: case there that basically talks about the countability of trust
- 1:56Speaker 3: assets first and then whether or not there's a disqualifying
- 2:01Speaker 3: transfer involved at all. This is about medicaid. You set
- 2:05Speaker 3: up a trust, you get denied medicaid because they say
- 2:08Speaker 3: the assets are available based on the terms of the trust,
- 2:11Speaker 3: which obviously drafting is going to be an important element
- 2:14Speaker 3: that we discuss here. But more importantly than that, maybe
- 2:17Speaker 3: it doesn't matter whether they're available. What was there a
- 2:21Speaker 3: disqualifying transfer of assets getting them into the trust in
- 2:24Speaker 3: this case also deals with the personal care contract. So
- 2:27Speaker 3: there's a lot going on in this case, folks. We're
- 2:29Speaker 3: going to come back and we're going to explain all
- 2:31Speaker 3: of that to you, But before we do that, I
- 2:34Speaker 3: want to just make mention that this is the end
- 2:37Speaker 3: of the month. This is the last chance to get
- 2:40Speaker 3: what is really the new guide called the Simplicity of
- 2:45Speaker 3: joint revocable Trust. It's a guide that has never been
- 2:47Speaker 3: given away before. It's really been becoming more and more
- 2:51Speaker 3: in an attractive way of planning because of the passage
- 2:54Speaker 3: of the BBBA. It's really all about the base. It's
- 2:57Speaker 3: the simplicity of putting all your assets in one trust,
- 3:00Speaker 3: not separating them, cramming down assets on the first death,
- 3:04Speaker 3: not only getting more sheltered for estate tax purposes so
- 3:08Speaker 3: we can win on the estate tax front, but also
- 3:11Speaker 3: allowing you to get a full step up in basis
- 3:15Speaker 3: thereby eliminating capital gains taxes and winning on the capital
- 3:19Speaker 3: gains tax front on the income side, so we're winning
- 3:22Speaker 3: on both sides of the tax equation with this trust.
- 3:26Speaker 3: And yes, it also provides for the nice way of
- 3:29Speaker 3: leaving assets to your family, the dynasty, the divorce proofing.
- 3:33Speaker 3: It really gives you a good understanding of how estate
- 3:36Speaker 3: planning works. Basic estate planning. So you get your self
- 3:41Speaker 3: and gear here and it's the end of the year,
- 3:43Speaker 3: and figure out how to get your estate plan in order.
- 3:45Speaker 3: It's not yet the end of the year. It's getting there.
- 3:48Speaker 3: Eight six six eight four eight five six nine to
- 3:52Speaker 3: nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com and download the
- 3:56Speaker 3: guide again eight six six eight four eight five six
- 4:00Speaker 3: nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com. Back to DC.
- 4:06Speaker 3: Are we married? I don't know. Let's see we are.
- 4:11Speaker 3: Just to clarify, that's clear. That's crystal clear. Greg and
- 4:14Speaker 3: Peggy began a relationship in the nineteen nineties, living together
- 4:19Speaker 3: and they continued to do that throughout their relationship, but
- 4:22Speaker 3: they never married. Why ruin a good thing by getting married?
- 4:25Speaker 3: I guess held themselves out as married to their family,
- 4:30Speaker 3: to their friends, et cetera. Twenty fifteen, Peggy died without
- 4:36Speaker 3: a will, survived by Greg and several siblings, apparently no kids.
- 4:44Speaker 3: Greg petitioned and probate the court petitioned to probate the
- 4:47Speaker 3: will in court to be appointed personal representative as he
- 4:52Speaker 3: has a priority because he's a surviving spouse. They're not married,
- 4:58Speaker 3: are they married? So as the surviving spouse, he would
- 5:01Speaker 3: have priority if their common law married, not the siblings.
- 5:06Speaker 3: Greg then applied for and was granted social Security benefits. Okay,
- 5:12Speaker 3: But when he requested a different start date because he
- 5:17Speaker 3: wasn't happy with the start date of the Social Security benefits,
- 5:20Speaker 3: sometimes just keep your mouth shut and move forward is
- 5:23Speaker 3: the lesson, he was denied benefits and it was stated
- 5:28Speaker 3: that there was insufficient evidence to support that Greg was
- 5:33Speaker 3: a surviving spouse and ordered him to pay back eighty
- 5:37Speaker 3: five hundred bucks that he had gotten in Social Security benefits.
- 5:41Speaker 3: I know, weird. Well, the administrative law judge agreed, stating
- 5:46Speaker 3: that he did not have to adhere to the probate
- 5:50Speaker 3: court statement that Greg was a surviving spouse and Greg
- 5:54Speaker 3: failed to establish that he was in fact common law
- 5:58Speaker 3: married under DC law. Well, Greg didn't like that, solied.
- 6:04Speaker 3: He appealed, and this is all over eighty five hundred dollars.
- 6:06Speaker 3: I'm already scratching my head. He went to the appellate court.
- 6:12Speaker 3: The Appellate Court affirmed the administrative law judge is ruling
- 6:17Speaker 3: that Social Security Administration must adhere to state court decisions
- 6:23Speaker 3: if certain elements are met. One, did the court genuinely
- 6:27Speaker 3: contest the validity of the common law marriage and was
- 6:31Speaker 3: the court decisions was consistent with that law? And the
- 6:38Speaker 3: court said, there was no contesting the status of Greg's
- 6:44Speaker 3: common law marriage. Remember they just accepted it. Remember they
- 6:48Speaker 3: appointed him he are and accepted that he was the
- 6:51Speaker 3: common law Wow. So there was no contesting and thus
- 6:54Speaker 3: no evidence stating or showing that the court applied DC
- 6:59Speaker 3: law to conclude the validity of the claim. Therefore, since
- 7:04Speaker 3: no one contested that he was, it was never proven
- 7:08Speaker 3: that he was, that he was the common law married
- 7:11Speaker 3: and was the surviving spouse. So Social Security said, we
- 7:14Speaker 3: don't have to acknowledge it, and therefore we're not going
- 7:17Speaker 3: to pay you social Security benefits. Again, it's a silly case.
- 7:22Speaker 3: It's eighty five hundred dollars, but whatever the monthly benefit is,
- 7:24Speaker 3: I guess could have made a difference to them. So
- 7:28Speaker 3: that's how that got played out. I'm like, well that
- 7:30Speaker 3: was funny. I mean, it's a strange case, but it's
- 7:34Speaker 3: not about the eighty five hundred dollars, folks, it's not
- 7:37Speaker 3: about the Social Security benefits. I think he's still a
- 7:40Speaker 3: big winner here because he was deemed the surviving spouse
- 7:44Speaker 3: and therefore she died without a will. He's going to
- 7:48Speaker 3: get along for the estate. Yeah, because he'll be the
- 7:51Speaker 3: next closest next of ken yep if there's no will.
- 7:55Speaker 3: So I think that's really important that he still wins
- 7:59Speaker 3: even though he loses out on Social Security benefits. Folks,
- 8:03Speaker 3: let's learn some stuff from this. Second marriages significant others.
- 8:08Speaker 3: I don't care what you are married or not. You've
- 8:10Speaker 3: got to think about it right. You really need to
- 8:12Speaker 3: do planning if you if you're married or you're not married,
- 8:15Speaker 3: but you have a significant other and you want to
- 8:18Speaker 3: provide for that person first. If you want them to, like,
- 8:22Speaker 3: you know, enjoy some of the items in it that
- 8:24Speaker 3: you own, but not have them own it, then you
- 8:28Speaker 3: need a trust in order to do that. Right. The
- 8:31Speaker 3: trust is going to be designed where the spouses the
- 8:35Speaker 3: assets could be used by the significant other but not
- 8:38Speaker 3: owned by the significant other. The second spouse, even if
- 8:42Speaker 3: it's a second marriage, you could ensure that they are
- 8:45Speaker 3: preserved for that side of the you know, for that person,
- 8:49Speaker 3: but preserved for your family. Yep, you need the trust
- 8:54Speaker 3: to live on to do that. Example, day in the house, Yeah,
- 8:57Speaker 3: you could allow the significant other to live in the house,
- 9:00Speaker 3: pay the bills, the right to pay the income. But
- 9:03Speaker 3: you know they can get income from investments, but not principal,
- 9:06Speaker 3: not sell the house, but live there. And this allows
- 9:09Speaker 3: them to continue to enjoy and be provided for. But
- 9:14Speaker 3: make sure that they go to your side of the family,
- 9:18Speaker 3: you know, when when you pass away. Now remember here
- 9:22Speaker 3: there's a probate. There was a probated state, right, So
- 9:26Speaker 3: if you have a bunch of bank accounts and you
- 9:29Speaker 3: had them all set up with designated beneficiaries as the kids, well,
- 9:33Speaker 3: then the kids from the prior marriage would just take
- 9:36Speaker 3: it and the significant other would be excluded. Yep. So
- 9:38Speaker 3: be careful here because this even with no will, even
- 9:42Speaker 3: though you're the significant other, you're the deemed to be
- 9:44Speaker 3: the spouse. You don't just get stuff if it's not
- 9:48Speaker 3: going to probate. So if you had right, if she
- 9:52Speaker 3: had a bunch of stuff named with designated beneficiaries of kids,
- 9:55Speaker 3: it would go to those kids outside of her. So
- 9:58Speaker 3: folks need to think of all of this when you're
- 10:01Speaker 3: doing your planning. My advice get the Guide on the
- 10:03Speaker 3: Simplicity of Joint Revocable Trust and just throw everything in
- 10:07Speaker 3: there and then you don't have to worry about it.
- 10:08Speaker 3: It'll go the way you want it to go and
- 10:10Speaker 3: take care of your family eight six six eight four
- 10:13Speaker 3: eight five six ninety nine or Legal Exchange show dot com.
- 10:19Speaker 2: You've been listening to Todd Lotski, a partner with the
- 10:21Speaker 2: law firm of Cushing and Dolan. I'm Susan Power as
- 10:25Speaker 2: a financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group. We've got
- 10:28Speaker 2: much more to come when we return after this quick
- 10:30Speaker 2: break on the Legal Exchange with Todd Lotski.
- 10:34Speaker 1: The state planning isn't just about taxes, it's about peace
- 10:37Speaker 1: of mind. At Cushing and Dolan, we believe your plan
- 10:40Speaker 1: should protect your family, not complicate your life. A joint
- 10:43Speaker 1: revocable trust can help you do both. It lets you
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- 10:52Speaker 1: private and your family stays in control. Our new guide
- 10:55Speaker 1: the Simplicity of Joint Revocable Trusts also explains how a
- 10:58Speaker 1: trust can protect your true ldren's inheritance from creditors, divorce,
- 11:02Speaker 1: or bad financial decisions down the road. This guide makes
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- 11:13Speaker 1: and ask for your free copy of the Simplicity of
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- 11:21Speaker 1: Legal exchange show dot com. The proceeding was paid for
- 11:24Speaker 1: in The music expressed are solely those of Cushing and Dolan.
- 11:26Speaker 1: Cushing and Dolan in or Armstrong Advisory may contact you
- 11:29Speaker 1: offering legal or investment services. Cushing and Dolan in Armstrong
- 11:32Speaker 1: Advisory do not endorse each other. In are not affiliated HI.
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- 12:26Speaker 1: or in any Armstrong Guide a specific financial, legal, or
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- 13:36Speaker 1: to the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky, an expert in
- 13:39Speaker 1: elder life planning and taxation. Need help with your estate plan?
- 13:43Speaker 1: Call Todd right now and make an appointment eight six
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- 13:53Speaker 2: Welcome back into the legal exchange with Todd Lutsky. I'm
- 13:56Speaker 2: Susan Powers of financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group,
- 14:00Speaker 2: and I'm joined by Todd Latsky, a partner with the
- 14:02Speaker 2: law firm of Cushing and Dolan with a masters in taxation.
- 14:07Speaker 2: Where are we headed now, Todd, We're going to head over.
- 14:09Speaker 3: To Indiana an appellet court case there dealing with what
- 14:15Speaker 3: is countable for medicaid purposes in a medicaid trust and
- 14:19Speaker 3: does it matter whether or not there was a disqualifying
- 14:22Speaker 3: transfer to get the assets in there. Two separate things
- 14:25Speaker 3: to look at. Kind of interesting, right, and that's what
- 14:27Speaker 3: they kind of played with here in this case. So
- 14:31Speaker 3: here we have Natalie who was denied medicaid because the
- 14:37Speaker 3: irrevocable trust used apparently was deemed that the assets in
- 14:43Speaker 3: it were available to her. Remember that's the rule. If
- 14:46Speaker 3: there's any way in which you can get the principle
- 14:50Speaker 3: or any portion of it, then it's countable. It's a
- 14:52Speaker 3: drafting issue. It's a drafting issue. I didn't read the trust,
- 14:56Speaker 3: so I don't know the trust was established by Natalie's kis.
- 15:00Speaker 3: Now that's important because that makes it a third party trust,
- 15:03Speaker 3: which changes the rules. Right. Okay, So the trust was
- 15:06Speaker 3: established by Natalie's kids, but funded with payments Natalie made
- 15:12Speaker 3: for the servi for the services provided by the kids.
- 15:15Speaker 3: Personal care contract comes into mind. So apparently mom Natalie
- 15:22Speaker 3: is paying the kids some of the payments made and
- 15:25Speaker 3: the kids would then take the money and put it
- 15:27Speaker 3: in this trust trust that they created for Mom. Interesting play.
- 15:33Speaker 3: So the personal care contract, some of the payments were
- 15:36Speaker 3: made before the contract existed, and some of the payments
- 15:41Speaker 3: were made after the contract exists, after they got a
- 15:45Speaker 3: little advice. So that could be a big difference. And
- 15:48Speaker 3: that's going to make a difference between what's considered a
- 15:51Speaker 3: disqualifying transfer and what is it because if it's not
- 15:55Speaker 3: a disqualifying transfer, then you really need to read the
- 15:58Speaker 3: trust to see if they're count right. If it is
- 16:01Speaker 3: a disqualifying transfer, well then we don't need to read
- 16:04Speaker 3: the trust yet you're just denied, yes, okay. So Natalie
- 16:10Speaker 3: then argues that the state should first determine even if
- 16:14Speaker 3: the transfers were disqualifying transfers, rather than see if the
- 16:17Speaker 3: trust assets were accountable. That's what she's trying to argue
- 16:20Speaker 3: that's what we just said, right. If these are actually
- 16:23Speaker 3: payments for services, well then they're not disqualifying transfers, right,
- 16:28Speaker 3: So doesn't matter if the trust what it says it
- 16:33Speaker 3: it's not a disqualifying transfer. I gave it to my son,
- 16:36Speaker 3: m I earned it was it was for services rendered.
- 16:40Speaker 3: Very different than here. A disqualifying transfer is when you
- 16:45Speaker 3: give something away for less than fair market value in
- 16:48Speaker 3: exchange that otherwise could be used for your care. Right.
- 16:52Speaker 3: So if you instead pay for services, well that's not
- 16:56Speaker 3: a disqualifying transfer because I got fair market value in
- 16:59Speaker 3: return for what I gave away. I got services.
- 17:02Speaker 2: But probably different if you pay a company to provide
- 17:06Speaker 2: that care versus a child.
- 17:08Speaker 3: Right, But if you have a personal care contract, then
- 17:10Speaker 3: it's okay to pay the trust. So are lots going
- 17:12Speaker 3: on here, folks, the appellate court. So of course they
- 17:16Speaker 3: got all the way up to the appellate court and
- 17:18Speaker 3: they said, in order to determine if a transfer penalty applies,
- 17:22Speaker 3: one must first determine if the individual is ever eligible
- 17:25Speaker 3: for Medicaid benefits. So you've got to do that first.
- 17:28Speaker 3: So first you must determine if the assets in the
- 17:31Speaker 3: trust are even countable so if they are countable, well
- 17:35Speaker 3: that doesn't matter how they got there, they're still countable.
- 17:38Speaker 3: There's no waiting. You never get past the waiting period
- 17:40Speaker 3: because it's countable. So the rule is, does the trust
- 17:43Speaker 3: provide that there are any circumstances in which the principle
- 17:46Speaker 3: of the trust can be paid two or for the
- 17:48Speaker 3: benefit of Natalie. If so, it's countable. And so this
- 17:52Speaker 3: whole case, you're not going to like this got remanded
- 17:55Speaker 3: because they first, I tell.
- 17:57Speaker 2: You about leaving us hanging with solutions.
- 18:00Speaker 3: So they first said, yes, you got to go back
- 18:02Speaker 3: now to the court and say, first determine whether or
- 18:05Speaker 3: not this trust is even countable. Then we'll deal with
- 18:08Speaker 3: whether or not the transfers are disqualifying or I don't care.
- 18:10Speaker 3: I'm done listening to you.
- 18:12Speaker 2: I like resolution, I like neat bos. I'm going to
- 18:14Speaker 2: get on these cases and stories.
- 18:16Speaker 3: I'm going to give everybody resolution because when we go
- 18:19Speaker 3: through the tips and lessons of what we can learn,
- 18:21Speaker 3: I'm going to spell out everything for you, so you're
- 18:24Speaker 3: going to know how this is going to play out. Folks,
- 18:28Speaker 3: if you haven't done your estate planning, you want to
- 18:30Speaker 3: get your ducks in a row. The simplicity of joint
- 18:35Speaker 3: revocable trusts is a brand new guide. It's the end
- 18:38Speaker 3: of the month, so brand new in the sense it's
- 18:40Speaker 3: never been given away and now it's the last chance
- 18:42Speaker 3: to get it because it is the end of the month.
- 18:45Speaker 3: It teaches us how simple it is to fund a
- 18:48Speaker 3: trust rather than split assets. Between two talks about estate
- 18:52Speaker 3: tax savings. It also explains the step up in basis
- 18:55Speaker 3: where you can get a full step up on the
- 18:57Speaker 3: first death, and really helps us understand and winning on
- 19:00Speaker 3: both sides of the equation estate tax, income tax. Just
- 19:05Speaker 3: so much to offer and so easy to understand. Call
- 19:10Speaker 3: and get the guide eight six six eight four eight
- 19:13Speaker 3: five six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com.
- 19:17Speaker 3: It is the end of the month. It's going away
- 19:20Speaker 3: after this, folks eight six six eight four eight five
- 19:24Speaker 3: six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com.
- 19:29Speaker 2: Listen, I think you need to do a year end
- 19:31Speaker 2: wrap up show every year. Go back through all your
- 19:34Speaker 2: past show notes and give us resolution for all the
- 19:37Speaker 2: times you've left us hanging throughout the year.
- 19:40Speaker 3: Well, I'm going to clear this one up for you,
- 19:41Speaker 3: all right. We're going to make it very clear what
- 19:43Speaker 3: is a disqualifying transfer right any action taken that makes
- 19:48Speaker 3: a formally available asset no longer available, meaning you didn't
- 19:54Speaker 3: get fair market value for what you gave away. So
- 19:56Speaker 3: I transfer of assets and do not get back fair
- 20:01Speaker 3: market value, then you have to calculate this penalty period. Why,
- 20:05Speaker 3: because it's a disqualifying transfer. Now, let's just say, for
- 20:09Speaker 3: the most part, you have when you make one of
- 20:12Speaker 3: these disqualifying transfers. We know generally speaking it's a five
- 20:17Speaker 3: year waiting period. I put it somewhere where I cannot
- 20:20Speaker 3: get it. Well, that you cannot get it part is
- 20:23Speaker 3: determined based on the language of the trust that you
- 20:26Speaker 3: put it in. So that's what this is all about, right,
- 20:29Speaker 3: So did these transfers get put into a trust that
- 20:34Speaker 3: were in fact available to the individual in this case, Natalie.
- 20:40Speaker 3: If they remain available, then it doesn't matter that it's
- 20:43Speaker 3: a disqualifying transfer right. Actually, it wouldn't be disqualifying because
- 20:47Speaker 3: you could still get it all right. Why that's important
- 20:52Speaker 3: is there was a personal care contract involved here. So
- 20:55Speaker 3: if you're going to provide services personal care services for
- 21:01Speaker 3: your loved one and you don't have a personal care
- 21:06Speaker 3: contract in place, then those will be considered disqualifying transfers
- 21:12Speaker 3: because they will be deemed made by you out of
- 21:16Speaker 3: love and affection. You need to go out of your
- 21:19Speaker 3: way to create a personal care contract to convert that
- 21:24Speaker 3: love and affection to a business transaction and make it real. Well,
- 21:31Speaker 3: what's probably wondering what's involved in doing that, Well, you
- 21:34Speaker 3: got to go get a personal You got to have
- 21:37Speaker 3: a contract setup. In the contract, it's between the care
- 21:40Speaker 3: provider and the person who's receiving the care. You need
- 21:43Speaker 3: to define the services that are being rendered exactly what
- 21:47Speaker 3: you're doing. You need to put down an hourly rate
- 21:51Speaker 3: of pay that you're going to get. You need to
- 21:54Speaker 3: determine the duration of the services. You need to say
- 21:59Speaker 3: how I'm going to get paid every week, two weeks monthly. However,
- 22:04Speaker 3: you want probably not a bad idea to set up
- 22:07Speaker 3: maybe even a payroll service to kick it out so
- 22:11Speaker 3: you get like a W two or ten ninety nine
- 22:14Speaker 3: at the end of the year. Yes, you must also
- 22:17Speaker 3: put that money you get on your personal income tax return.
- 22:21Speaker 3: It's income, Yep, you're acknowledging that it's income by paying taxes.
- 22:26Speaker 3: Those kinds of things make it a personal care contract
- 22:30Speaker 3: and then would prevent the money coming from Mom Natalie
- 22:35Speaker 3: in this case to the child from being a disqualifying
- 22:40Speaker 3: transfer and instead is a payment for services rendered. Big difference,
- 22:47Speaker 3: not a disqualifying transfer. But if you took the money
- 22:53Speaker 3: and stuck it in a trust that's available to the
- 22:57Speaker 3: person you just got it from, well then we don't
- 23:02Speaker 3: care whether it's a disqualifying transfer or not. The money
- 23:04Speaker 3: still available to go boomerang. So you got to be
- 23:07Speaker 3: very careful when you drafted to make sure that you've
- 23:10Speaker 3: accomplished that. So accountability versus whether or not it's a
- 23:14Speaker 3: disqualifying transfer. So that's what this is all about. But
- 23:17Speaker 3: that's really from a medicaid standpoint. Folks. You just want
- 23:20Speaker 3: to get your basic estate planning in the row in order.
- 23:23Speaker 3: It's the end of the month, call and get the
- 23:24Speaker 3: guide The Simplicity of Joint Revocable Trusts eight six six
- 23:29Speaker 3: eight four eight five six nine nine or Legal Exchange
- 23:33Speaker 3: show dot com. You can download it right there.
- 23:36Speaker 2: You've been listening to Todd Lutsky, a partner with the
- 23:39Speaker 2: law firm of Cushing and Dolan. I'm Susan Powers, a
- 23:42Speaker 2: financial advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group, and Todd will
- 23:45Speaker 2: be answering your listener questions. When we return to the
- 23:49Speaker 2: Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky, The.
- 23:52Speaker 1: State planning isn't just about taxes, It's about peace of mind.
- 23:56Speaker 1: At Cushing and Dolan, we believe your plan should protect
- 23:58Speaker 1: your family, not implicate your life. A joint revocable trust
- 24:02Speaker 1: can help you do both. It lets you avoid probate,
- 24:04Speaker 1: which means no court delays, no public filings, and no
- 24:08Speaker 1: stress for your loved ones. Your state stays private and
- 24:11Speaker 1: your family stays in control. Our new guide, The Simplicity
- 24:14Speaker 1: of Joint Revocable Trusts also explains how a trust can
- 24:17Speaker 1: protect your children's inheritance from creditors, divorce, or bad financial
- 24:21Speaker 1: decisions down the road. This guide makes it easy to
- 24:23Speaker 1: understand why a joint trust may be the smart move
- 24:26Speaker 1: for your family's future. Call eight sixty six eight four
- 24:29Speaker 1: eight five six ninety nine right now and ask for
- 24:31Speaker 1: your free copy of the Simplicity of Joint Revocable Trusts.
- 24:34Speaker 1: That's eight sixty six eight four eight five six ninety nine,
- 24:37Speaker 1: or requested online from our website Legal Exchange show dot com.
- 24:41Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for in The views expressed are
- 24:43Speaker 1: solely those of Cushing and Dolan. Cushing and Dolan in
- 24:45Speaker 1: or Armstrong Advisory may contact you offering legal investment services.
- 24:48Speaker 1: Cushing and Dolan in Armstrong Advisory do not endorse each
- 24:51Speaker 1: other in are not affiliated.
- 24:53Speaker 4: Mark Vonner is the CEO of Veterans Development Corporation. Mark
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- 25:53Speaker 5: Your home has been the center of your life for years,
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- 26:22Speaker 5: Real Estate and Retirement, tackles a number of different issues
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- 26:32Speaker 5: by calling eight hundred three nine three four zero zero one.
- 26:35Speaker 5: That's eight hundred three to nine three four zero zero one,
- 26:38Speaker 5: or you can request the guide at Armstrong Advisory dot com.
- 26:41Speaker 1: The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong advisory group a
- 26:43Speaker 1: registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
- 26:45Speaker 1: Armstrong guide is specific financial, legal or tax advice. Consult
- 26:47Speaker 1: your own financial tax into state planning advisors before making
- 26:50Speaker 1: any investment decisions. Armstrong may contact you to offer investment
- 26:52Speaker 1: advisory services. You're listening to the Legal Exchange and it's
- 26:57Speaker 1: time for Ask Todd, the segment where will answer your
- 27:01Speaker 1: questions about anything and everything that's included in the estate
- 27:04Speaker 1: planning process. Once again, here's Todd Lutsky and Susan Powers.
- 27:10Speaker 3: Welcome back, Tod.
- 27:11Speaker 2: We have a few questions from listeners who you first
- 27:14Speaker 2: question comes from Joan in Middleborough, mass And Joan writes,
- 27:19Speaker 2: my husband and I have two irrevocable trusts. Our niece
- 27:24Speaker 2: is currently the trustee, but has indicated that she no
- 27:27Speaker 2: longer wants to be the trustee. How do we go
- 27:30Speaker 2: about changing this? Are there any restrictions as to who
- 27:34Speaker 2: we can appoint?
- 27:36Speaker 3: So let's let's sort of unpack that because I find
- 27:40Speaker 3: there's some things that I might need to know a
- 27:42Speaker 3: little more about.
- 27:43Speaker 2: And this is my client, so I'm well aware of
- 27:45Speaker 2: her situation right now, So you give me this is
- 27:47Speaker 2: your trust By the way, oh, that was one of
- 27:48Speaker 2: my questions. That's probably helpful detailed that I left out. Yes,
- 27:53Speaker 2: so you don't give me resolutions. I don't give you
- 27:56Speaker 2: full questions, don't give me full facts.
- 27:57Speaker 3: It's hard for me to answer full question. So in
- 28:01Speaker 3: this case, one with the fact that they that that
- 28:06Speaker 3: I now know it's a Cushing and Dole in trust
- 28:09Speaker 3: and and that there's two of them, two trusts. I'm
- 28:12Speaker 3: going to realize that they're over two million dollars in assets,
- 28:18Speaker 3: and that's important from an estate tax standpoint for me.
- 28:23Speaker 3: But they're irrevocable, so I know they're designed to protect
- 28:26Speaker 3: assets from the nursing home and shelter for a state
- 28:29Speaker 3: taxes at the same time. So that's good. Now, it's
- 28:31Speaker 3: interesting that there's a niece listed as trustee, which makes
- 28:34Speaker 3: me beg the question about children. They both have children,
- 28:39Speaker 3: but a little estranged. But are they providing for them?
- 28:42Speaker 3: They are, but they don't want them serving as trustee. Yeah,
- 28:46Speaker 3: that's not horribly uncommon. I guess it's not all the time,
- 28:50Speaker 3: but you know, and there's nothing wrong with that. The
- 28:53Speaker 3: niece can certainly serve as trustee. And again I always
- 28:56Speaker 3: tell people when you're setting up your your trusts, that
- 28:59Speaker 3: it's probably a good idea to just ask yourself that
- 29:02Speaker 3: you know. I always start with the premise that that
- 29:05Speaker 3: you know, the trust is irrevocable, but you have powers
- 29:08Speaker 3: to change things, so you know, do you I always
- 29:11Speaker 3: say which child do you want to serve, just assuming
- 29:13Speaker 3: it's going to be a child, and they'll tell us, oh,
- 29:17Speaker 3: you know, they're probably just not good at this, right,
- 29:20Speaker 3: or you know, I can't pick one and not the other,
- 29:22Speaker 3: and then even if I pick both, they fight with
- 29:24Speaker 3: each other. So there's just not a good dynamic. Fine,
- 29:28Speaker 3: don't put them on. Put the niece on now. Apparently,
- 29:32Speaker 3: like here, life changes, yep, and it might be a
- 29:36Speaker 3: change by the niece, Yeah, she's moving away, and it
- 29:40Speaker 3: might be a change by mom and dads of the world.
- 29:43Speaker 3: So either way, the control over that trustee remains with
- 29:49Speaker 3: the donors, the moms and dads of the world. So good.
- 29:55Speaker 3: They have what is known as the power to remove
- 29:58Speaker 3: and replace trust these anytime with no reason given. However,
- 30:06Speaker 3: they cannot replace with themselves anybody else, but not themselves.
- 30:11Speaker 3: Now in this case, of course, niece is certainly allowed
- 30:13Speaker 3: to resign. Don't have to remove her because she doesn't
- 30:17Speaker 3: want to serve anyway, so she would prepare a resignation. Well,
- 30:21Speaker 3: the attorney would prepare the resignation, she would sign it,
- 30:28Speaker 3: and you could also, by the way, trustees are also
- 30:30Speaker 3: able to appoint new trustees. So maybe it might be
- 30:35Speaker 3: even easier just to have the niece a point at
- 30:39Speaker 3: the direction of the donors.
- 30:41Speaker 2: Would she's more than willing to do what she needs
- 30:44Speaker 2: to do from a paperwork perspective to sign things.
- 30:48Speaker 3: Simply come in and say, you know. The donors come
- 30:51Speaker 3: in and say, you know, we want n we want
- 30:53Speaker 3: our nephew serve.
- 30:54Speaker 2: So they don't have a big network of folks to
- 30:57Speaker 2: choose from, so they were thinking perhaps they might want
- 31:00Speaker 2: an attorney to serve as trustee. Is that possible perfectly?
- 31:04Speaker 3: Okay, they can pick anybody they want as long as
- 31:07Speaker 3: it's not them. So again, the idea might be that
- 31:10Speaker 3: they come in and they tell you this, because we
- 31:12Speaker 3: still don't want Apparently the things haven't change for the sun,
- 31:15Speaker 3: they don't want the children in. They just simply say, fine,
- 31:18Speaker 3: why don't we have you know, the niece file an
- 31:21Speaker 3: appointment that says I appoint Todd Lutsky trustee or some
- 31:25Speaker 3: senior attorney at Cushing and Dolan trustee and then I
- 31:30Speaker 3: would accept, Then a resignation would be prepared and she
- 31:34Speaker 3: would resign, and the three pieces of paper later you've
- 31:37Speaker 3: got your new trustee. Easy peasy. So, folks, it's not
- 31:41Speaker 3: restrictive just because you have an irrevocable trust. However, the
- 31:47Speaker 3: real simplicity comes from this joint revocable trust. Again, these
- 31:51Speaker 3: are folks not interested necessarily in protecting assets from the
- 31:54Speaker 3: nursing home, but there's a whole host of people who
- 31:56Speaker 3: want basic estate planning done. This trust under the new
- 32:01Speaker 3: BBBA really has become more popular. It allows you to
- 32:05Speaker 3: completely fund it, not split assets, just throw everything in there.
- 32:09Speaker 3: You don't have to divide things between spouses. You stay
- 32:12Speaker 3: in control. You get full inclusion, so you're able to
- 32:16Speaker 3: shelter a lot more on the first death than you
- 32:18Speaker 3: ever could before with two trusts, getting a full step
- 32:21Speaker 3: up in basis on the first death, allowing for lots
- 32:24Speaker 3: of more flexibility by the surviving spouse in terms of
- 32:28Speaker 3: what they might give away and how they might use
- 32:30Speaker 3: the assets, and then of course even maybe a second
- 32:33Speaker 3: step up in basis when the survivor dies. Folks taking
- 32:36Speaker 3: advantage of both estate tax savings and income tax savings,
- 32:40Speaker 3: and winning on both sides of the equation is what
- 32:42Speaker 3: this guide is all about. Call and get it. It's
- 32:45Speaker 3: the end of the month eight six six eight four
- 32:49Speaker 3: eight five six nine to nine or Legal Exchange Show
- 32:53Speaker 3: dot com and download it there. It's going to go
- 32:55Speaker 3: away after this month eight six six eight four eight
- 32:59Speaker 3: five six nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com.
- 33:04Speaker 2: Our last question comes from Ken in Nashville, New Hampshire,
- 33:06Speaker 2: and Ken writes, my wife and I are in our
- 33:09Speaker 2: early sixties and starting to think about nursing home protection.
- 33:13Speaker 2: How do we know when it's time to switch from
- 33:16Speaker 2: a revocable trust to an irrevocable one and what happens
- 33:19Speaker 2: if we wait too long. We have a total of
- 33:22Speaker 2: one and a half million, including our home worth six
- 33:25Speaker 2: hundred thousand, iris worth four hundred and other investments of
- 33:29Speaker 2: five hundred thousand. When do you start thinking about that
- 33:33Speaker 2: every vocable?
- 33:35Speaker 3: Yeah, sixty, it's time. It's funny that you mentioned the sixties,
- 33:42Speaker 3: but yes, when I meet clients and there is no
- 33:45Speaker 3: rhyme or reason, I always tell people this is my
- 33:48Speaker 3: own rule. Please don't say, oh, that's what I heard
- 33:50Speaker 3: that's the rule. It's just my rule guideline. Yeah, I
- 33:54Speaker 3: think you know sixty sixty one too. It takes five
- 33:57Speaker 3: years to protect assets, so you know, on where you
- 34:00Speaker 3: are in life, if you're comfortable. If you need to
- 34:02Speaker 3: wait till sixty five, that's no harm done. You can
- 34:05Speaker 3: still do it at sixty five. Obviously you can do
- 34:07Speaker 3: it even later. Never hurts to get the clock running.
- 34:10Speaker 3: But at an early time I would think sixties. So now,
- 34:18Speaker 3: the other thing that you really need to look at
- 34:20Speaker 3: when you think about switching is you know, do I
- 34:26Speaker 3: what kind of assets? How much am I worth? Right?
- 34:29Speaker 3: So their net worth is sort of right in that
- 34:32Speaker 3: sweet spot of yes, I need to be protecting assets
- 34:36Speaker 3: from the nursing home. Whereas if they were in their
- 34:38Speaker 3: sixties and worth seven million, I might be saying, you
- 34:41Speaker 3: don't need to think about switching, right, So I think
- 34:45Speaker 3: there's an age function, sure, and an asset net worth function.
- 34:50Speaker 3: So if they say, well, geez, we were thinking about
- 34:51Speaker 3: switching to nursing home planning, I would say, why you're
- 34:55Speaker 3: the higher Yeah, the higher network exactly. If you're at
- 34:57Speaker 3: six seven million and up, you know, I'd be like bother.
- 35:00Speaker 2: But at a lower networth. I think it can be
- 35:02Speaker 2: more important than ever to make sure those assets are
- 35:05Speaker 2: protected for your spouse so you're not going to impoverish
- 35:08Speaker 2: them if for one of you goes into a nursing home.
- 35:10Speaker 3: Great point. I think people forget that. They think we're
- 35:12Speaker 3: always talking about the kids when we talk about these trusts. Right, No,
- 35:16Speaker 3: I've talked about the parents first. Yeah, then the kids.
- 35:19Speaker 2: If there's something less for the kids, great.
- 35:21Speaker 3: But there will be when yes, And I think you're
- 35:25Speaker 3: right here because how much of and when you look
- 35:27Speaker 3: at a one point five million dollar estate, I'm with
- 35:31Speaker 3: you that that's in the realm of yes, we should
- 35:34Speaker 3: be switching to irrevocable trusts. And then you've got to
- 35:37Speaker 3: look at the type of assets that make up that estate.
- 35:41Speaker 3: Like if these assets were switched and they had like
- 35:44Speaker 3: a million dollars in an IRA and like a couple
- 35:48Speaker 3: thousand dollars in a bank account and a house. Right,
- 35:51Speaker 3: it's a little harder because you can't protect the iry
- 35:54Speaker 3: in advance, right, not in advance, that's right. But but
- 35:58Speaker 3: you know, this is really a great set of facts
- 36:02Speaker 3: because of the one point five one point one can
- 36:08Speaker 3: be protected m and you're going to live off the
- 36:11Speaker 3: four hundred thousand dollars IRA anyway. Yep, that's a great
- 36:14Speaker 3: asset to spend down during life. It's better for taxes,
- 36:17Speaker 3: it's at risk for the nursing home. So please do
- 36:20Speaker 3: that and let's stick everything else in the trust, folks.
- 36:24Speaker 3: That's medicaid planning. This guide is about the simplicity of
- 36:28Speaker 3: joint revocable trust. It's the end of the month. Call
- 36:30Speaker 3: and get it eight six six eight four eight five
- 36:34Speaker 3: six nine nine or Legal Exchange show dot com and
- 36:38Speaker 3: download it there.
- 36:40Speaker 2: If you have a question you would like to ask Todd,
- 36:42Speaker 2: visit his website Legal Exchange Show dot com. Click on
- 36:46Speaker 2: the ass tob tab. Maybe I'll be able to read
- 36:48Speaker 2: your question on the air, and hopefully his answer will
- 36:51Speaker 2: stop you from becoming one of his next real life stories.
- 36:54Speaker 2: You've been listening to Todd Lutsky, a partner with the
- 36:57Speaker 2: law firm of Cushing in Dolan sus Empowers, a financial
- 37:01Speaker 2: advisor with the Armstrong Advisory Group. We'll be back with
- 37:05Speaker 2: more after this quick break on a legal exchange with
- 37:08Speaker 2: Todd Lutsky.
- 37:09Speaker 1: The state planning isn't just about taxes, It's about peace
- 37:12Speaker 1: of mind. At Cushing and Dolan. We believe your plan
- 37:15Speaker 1: should protect your family, not complicate your life. A joint
- 37:18Speaker 1: revocable trust can help you do both. It lets you
- 37:21Speaker 1: avoid probate, which means no court delays, no public filings,
- 37:24Speaker 1: and no stress for your loved ones. Your state stays
- 37:27Speaker 1: private and your family stays in control. Our new guide,
- 37:30Speaker 1: The Simplicity of Joint Revocable Trusts also explains how a
- 37:34Speaker 1: trust can protect your children's inheritance from creditors, divorce, or
- 37:37Speaker 1: bad financial decisions down the road. This guide makes it
- 37:40Speaker 1: easy to understand why a joint trust may be the
- 37:43Speaker 1: smart move for your family's future. Call eight six six
- 37:46Speaker 1: eight four eight five six nine to nine right now
- 37:48Speaker 1: and ask for your free copy of the Simplicity of
- 37:50Speaker 1: Joint Revocable Trusts that's eight six six eight four eight
- 37:53Speaker 1: five six ninety nine, or requested online from our website
- 37:56Speaker 1: Legal exchange show dot com. The proceeding was paid for
- 37:59Speaker 1: in the UW. Expressed are solely those of Cushing and Dolan.
- 38:01Speaker 1: Cushing and Dolan in or Armstrong Advisory may contact you
- 38:04Speaker 1: offering legal or investment services. Cushing and Dolan in Armstrong
- 38:07Speaker 1: Advisory do not endorse each other. In are not affiliated HI.
- 38:10Speaker 1: This is Chuck Zada from the Armstrong Advisory Group. Your
- 38:12Speaker 1: home is more than just a place to live. It's
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- 38:56Speaker 1: Advisory dot com. The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong
- 38:58Speaker 1: Advisory Group, a registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad
- 39:01Speaker 1: or in any Armstrong guide is specific financial, legal or
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- 40:11Speaker 4: We're proud to announce that circle K is now the
- 40:13Speaker 4: official convenience store of the DAV Department of Massachusetts at
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- 40:39Speaker 1: For all you've done. Your tune to the Legal Exchange
- 40:43Speaker 1: with Todd Lutsky. If you are a loved one needs
- 40:46Speaker 1: a nursing homes day, call Todd right now at eight
- 40:49Speaker 1: sixty six eight four eight five six ninet nine and
- 40:51Speaker 1: let him make sure your assets are protected. That's eight
- 40:54Speaker 1: six six eight for eight five six nine nine, or
- 40:56Speaker 1: visit him online at Legal Exchange show dot com.
- 41:01Speaker 2: Welcome back into the Legal Exchange with Todd Lutsky. I'm
- 41:04Speaker 2: Susan Powers a financial advisor the Armstrong Advisory Group, and
- 41:08Speaker 2: I'm joined, of course by Todd Lutsky, a partner with
- 41:11Speaker 2: the law firm of Cushing and Dolan with a masters
- 41:14Speaker 2: in taxation. Todd, part of your guide for this month
- 41:18Speaker 2: is all about how to protect children and your future generations.
- 41:22Speaker 2: So I know a lot of parents worry about leaving
- 41:26Speaker 2: too much money too soon to their children. What tools
- 41:31Speaker 2: are available in a trust that can help control when
- 41:34Speaker 2: and how your kids actually receive their inheritance.
- 41:39Speaker 3: What I like to tell people about that is when
- 41:43Speaker 3: they ask me, Okay, so how do we want to
- 41:45Speaker 3: leave assets when you die, I say it's like good
- 41:48Speaker 3: to be king because control from the grade, we can
- 41:51Speaker 3: write anything you want. Yeah, I mean, there really is
- 41:54Speaker 3: no parameters that you can't think of that might be
- 41:59Speaker 3: something we can't do.
- 42:00Speaker 2: So I can dream up any kind of circumstance for
- 42:04Speaker 2: my kid's inheritance to be distributed, and then you your
- 42:08Speaker 2: job is to.
- 42:09Speaker 3: Sort of really in if I think it's not.
- 42:11Speaker 2: Gonna work, or get the legal legal language to fit
- 42:15Speaker 2: that need.
- 42:15Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, because there's there's things where like people don't
- 42:18Speaker 3: they they think they can do certain things and then
- 42:21Speaker 3: it doesn't work like. I remember this one person. It
- 42:23Speaker 3: was Greek and he wanted to you know, they're big
- 42:27Speaker 3: on marrying Greek and that's just keep it that way.
- 42:30Speaker 3: That's how they are. And and he's like, my one
- 42:33Speaker 3: daughter's not married yet, she only gets her inheritance if
- 42:36Speaker 3: she's married to a Greek guy. I'm like, oh boy,
- 42:39Speaker 3: how are we going to do that? I mean, I
- 42:40Speaker 3: could write that, but you need to understand the reality
- 42:44Speaker 3: writing and what's really going to happen in life. And
- 42:47Speaker 3: that's my point. Is I going to guide people? Right,
- 42:49Speaker 3: I'm like, you have to understand what this person was.
- 42:51Speaker 3: If she gets married, no, no one, she will hate you. Two.
- 42:56Speaker 3: She will simply say, I know, I got my Greek friend.
- 42:59Speaker 3: What if she doesn't like bull You're going down many
- 43:03Speaker 3: different scenarios. But in this case, my point was simply,
- 43:07Speaker 3: what she'll simply do is find her friend. Yes, put
- 43:11Speaker 3: an agreement together that says we're going to get married.
- 43:14Speaker 3: I'm then going to get this much money. I'm going
- 43:17Speaker 3: to give you this little piece, and we're going to
- 43:19Speaker 3: file for divorce. And this is what's going to happen.
- 43:22Speaker 3: And this is not what you want to leave as
- 43:24Speaker 3: a legacy. So when I say yeah, you can do
- 43:27Speaker 3: it anyway you want, you sort of need to guide
- 43:29Speaker 3: people reason, you know, So I think the general rule
- 43:32Speaker 3: just give you some ideas, right, obviously outright is certainly allowed. Again,
- 43:36Speaker 3: no right or wrong answer here, Oh, I'll just give
- 43:39Speaker 3: it to them. In staggered distributions not uncommon. When they
- 43:42Speaker 3: reach twenty five or thirty or thirty five years of age,
- 43:44Speaker 3: you can have one third paid out incrementally.
- 43:48Speaker 2: Five years to think about what you've done. If you've
- 43:50Speaker 2: blown it all in the first sweep.
- 43:52Speaker 3: Exactly, it's sort of a maturation process for them. That's
- 43:55Speaker 3: not a bad idea. And if they remember during that
- 43:59Speaker 3: time period, distributions can still be made for health, education, welfare,
- 44:03Speaker 3: and sports, so it can come out for good reason.
- 44:07Speaker 3: It's just the lump sums come out incrementally so that
- 44:10Speaker 3: you kind of learn about it. Nothing wrong with that.
- 44:14Speaker 3: If you die in the interim, meaning after mom and
- 44:17Speaker 3: dad are dead, but you die before reaching thirty but
- 44:20Speaker 3: left kids, well then that piece is going to go
- 44:22Speaker 3: to those kids, the grand kids, right, So that's okay.
- 44:27Speaker 3: It stays in the bloodline, so you even have some
- 44:29Speaker 3: bloodline planning with this staggered distribution idea again, okay way
- 44:34Speaker 3: of doing it and maybe the again no right or
- 44:38Speaker 3: wrong answer. The better way The krem the la creme
- 44:41Speaker 3: is why don't I just hold it in trust for them?
- 44:44Speaker 3: Allow them to be trustees, manage and invest the money,
- 44:47Speaker 3: but not take it. If they want to take it,
- 44:50Speaker 3: they have to appoint an independent trustee. Again, smart kids,
- 44:54Speaker 3: level head kids. Give them the power to remove and
- 44:57Speaker 3: replace that person anytime. So now they control them aspects.
- 45:03Speaker 3: Here they control the outcome of this trust. They ask
- 45:06Speaker 3: the independent trustee for distributions. The independent trustee gets to
- 45:10Speaker 3: say yes or no. And it's that form of ownership
- 45:13Speaker 3: that protects it from future divorces, creditors of any kind,
- 45:18Speaker 3: therefore keeping it in the bloodline, protecting it from creditors.
- 45:22Speaker 3: And even if there's never a divorce, it skips a
- 45:25Speaker 3: generation for estate taxes because when they die, if they
- 45:29Speaker 3: have not taken it yet, they don't own it. Therefore
- 45:32Speaker 3: it passes down to the grandkids generation skipping tax free.
- 45:37Speaker 3: This is generational building wealth that you can't fathom tax
- 45:43Speaker 3: free yep.
- 45:43Speaker 2: So that covers divorce, creditor protection, dependency issues.
- 45:50Speaker 3: All of them are just preparing with money. Yeah, whatever
- 45:53Speaker 3: you want. Yeah, really a wonderful way of doing it.
- 45:55Speaker 3: So those are kind of some three general ideas, but
- 45:58Speaker 3: you're really not limited. Can pick and choose what you
- 46:01Speaker 3: want to do, folks. That part of a trust is
- 46:05Speaker 3: the same, whether it's a simplicity of a joint revocable trust,
- 46:09Speaker 3: or whether it's an irrevocable medicaid trust, or whether it's
- 46:13Speaker 3: you know, a single or two separate irrevocable medicaid trust.
- 46:17Speaker 3: How we leave things is the same, but you should
- 46:20Speaker 3: get the guide. This simplicity of joint revocable trust is
- 46:23Speaker 3: to kick off your estate planning and help you understand
- 46:27Speaker 3: putting everything in one trust, cramming everything down on the
- 46:30Speaker 3: first death, getting a step up in basis on more
- 46:33Speaker 3: assets than you could if you split everything separately, and
- 46:37Speaker 3: ultimately how you leave it. This guide explains all of that,
- 46:41Speaker 3: as well as the actual tax savings that goes on.
- 46:46Speaker 3: So call and get the guide. End of the month,
- 46:48Speaker 3: Last chance to get it eight six six eight four
- 46:52Speaker 3: eight five six nine to nine or Legal Exchange Show
- 46:56Speaker 3: dot com. One more time eight six six eight four
- 47:00Speaker 3: eight five six nine nine or Legal Exchange Show dot com.
- 47:05Speaker 2: So Todd staying on that line of protecting your beneficiaries
- 47:11Speaker 2: from themselves. So someone who might have dependency issues, whether
- 47:15Speaker 2: it's drug addiction or gambling, whatever it is. That's fine
- 47:20Speaker 2: for things that are in your trust and you're creating
- 47:22Speaker 2: that share. But what do you do with your iras?
- 47:26Speaker 2: Because people can have some substantial iras and if they say, okay,
- 47:31Speaker 2: the trust is protected, we've got shares for the kids,
- 47:35Speaker 2: what happens with the iras?
- 47:36Speaker 3: Great? Great question. So the iras. While I'm sitting here
- 47:41Speaker 3: just explaining a minute ago the simplicity of a joint trust,
- 47:43Speaker 3: and I'm sitting here telling you throw everything in there.
- 47:45Speaker 3: Throw everything in there Stept.
- 47:47Speaker 5: Four.
- 47:47Speaker 3: You're right, except for the iras, folks. Irase cannot go
- 47:51Speaker 3: in there, which again is why you do a joint
- 47:53Speaker 3: trust because there might be a large portion of assets
- 47:57Speaker 3: that are not able to be sheltered on the first death.
- 48:00Speaker 3: But the joint trust allows you to shelter all of
- 48:03Speaker 3: the non qualified assets on the first AaTh, which is
- 48:06Speaker 3: really important. And so this piece would just flow to
- 48:10Speaker 3: the spouse. But then when the spouse dies, where does
- 48:14Speaker 3: the IRA go? So it's let's talk for a minute.
- 48:17Speaker 3: As a general rule, when you're doing a state planning
- 48:20Speaker 3: and I tell this to my paralegals who fund these
- 48:22Speaker 3: trust for my clients. If it's a revocable trust, I
- 48:27Speaker 3: we'll just use a joint revocable trust. For now. The
- 48:31Speaker 3: standard rule will be the primary beneficiary for a married
- 48:36Speaker 3: couple will be the spouse. It's the best from an
- 48:41Speaker 3: income tax standpoint, and that's going to carry the day today,
- 48:47Speaker 3: not necessarily the best from an estate tax standpoint. But
- 48:49Speaker 3: if I've got a joint trust, I'm okay, right, all right,
- 48:55Speaker 3: The contingent beneficiary will be two choices. Make a look
- 49:00Speaker 3: at the trust. If the trust says, as you just said, Susan,
- 49:05Speaker 3: we're trying to control it. We're trying to protect it
- 49:08Speaker 3: for creditors, for divorces, for kids with bad money, that
- 49:12Speaker 3: divorce protection language is in the trust. All they have
- 49:15Speaker 3: to do is look. If it's there, the contingent beneficiary
- 49:20Speaker 3: will be the trust. If it just says, divide it
- 49:24Speaker 3: equally to the kids and give it to them because
- 49:26Speaker 3: we're not worried about it paid out, we don't want
- 49:28Speaker 3: to control it from the grave, then the contingent beneficiary
- 49:32Speaker 3: will be the kids. Because it can go right out.
- 49:35Speaker 3: There's no reason to run it through the trust. Right,
- 49:39Speaker 3: So those are your two choices. So in this case, Susan,
- 49:43Speaker 3: we would make the primary the spouse the contingent the trust.
- 49:47Speaker 3: The trust iras cannot get there while you're alive, but
- 49:50Speaker 3: they can get to your trust when you're dead.
- 49:53Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're like life insurance that can just go
- 49:56Speaker 2: straight right to.
- 49:57Speaker 3: The trust primary beneficiary all the time. And there's good
- 50:01Speaker 3: If a trust is designed right, there's not going to
- 50:03Speaker 3: be any adverse required minimum distribution problems. Remember, if you
- 50:08Speaker 3: leave it to a trust, I'm sorry. If you leave
- 50:10Speaker 3: it to the kids, it's going to come out over
- 50:13Speaker 3: ten years. If you leave it to the trust, it
- 50:15Speaker 3: still has to come into the trust over ten years.
- 50:19Speaker 3: At the end where folks call and get the guide
- 50:23Speaker 3: the Simplicity of joint revocable trust, it's the end of
- 50:26Speaker 3: the month, last chance to get it eight six six
- 50:30Speaker 3: eight four eight five six ninety nine or Legal Exchange
- 50:34Speaker 3: show dot com again eight sixty six eight four eight
- 50:38Speaker 3: five six ninety nine. It is the end of the month,
- 50:42Speaker 3: call and get the guide.
- 50:43Speaker 2: Todd Lutsky from the law firm of Cushing and Dolan,
- 50:46Speaker 2: thank you so much.
- 50:47Speaker 3: Always a pleasure Susan thank you.
- 50:49Speaker 2: I'm Susan Power as a financial advisor with the Armstrong
- 50:52Speaker 2: Advisory Group. We thank you for joining us today and
- 50:55Speaker 2: we'll be back again next week on the Legal Exchange
- 50:58Speaker 2: with Todd Lutsky.
- 51:00Speaker 1: The state planning isn't just about taxes, It's about peace
- 51:03Speaker 1: of mind. At Cushing and Dolan, we believe your plan
- 51:06Speaker 1: should protect your family, not complicate your life. A joint
- 51:09Speaker 1: revocable trust can help you do both. It lets you
- 51:11Speaker 1: avoid probate, which means no court delays, no public filings,
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- 51:21Speaker 1: The Simplicity of Joint Revocable Trusts, also explains how a
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- 51:41Speaker 1: Revocable Trusts. That's eight sixty six eight four eight five
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- 51:47Speaker 1: Exchange show dot com. The proceeding was paid for in
- 51:50Speaker 1: The views expressed are solely those of Cushing and Dolan.
- 51:52Speaker 1: Cushing and Dolan and or Armstrong Advisory may contact you
- 51:55Speaker 1: offering legal investment services. Cushing and Dolan in Armstrong Advisory
- 51:58Speaker 1: do not endorse each other in or not affiliated.
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