Tag Archives: Current Events

Current Developments Jan-Apr 2019, New Ideas and More

This 90 minute program will review new cases, rulings, news articles and more from the first four months of 2019. Included in the discussion will be an analysis of the Sanders tax bill which might serve as a blueprint for a Democratic tax proposal should there be a change in administrations in Washington in 2020 and what practitioners should advise clients to do now. Several recent malpractice cases will be reviewed with an emphasis on practical steps practitioners in all disciplines, but especially estate planning attorneys, should take now to modify how they practice in light of the issues and risks of those cases (regardless of how they are resolved). New data on elder financial abuse and steps to help clients will be discussed. Cases and rulings on a wide array of topics including decanting, GST planning, charitable deductions and much more will be discussed.

Tax Cuts & Jobs Act: Impact on Estate Planning & Ancillary Planning Areas

On Dec. 20, 2017, the House of Representatives passed, as the Senate had done a few days earlier, legislation called the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,”.  Although it has been delivered to President Trump, he likely will not sign it into law until the beginning of 2018 even though most of the provisions are effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017.   In other words, the President and his party have been able to deliver sweeping provisions that affect almost every aspect of tax, estate and other planning, far more than what anyone anticipated, in just about 7 weeks! That truncated time frame no doubt will result in a myriad of implications and nuances to the final legislation that were either not considered adequately and which will leave practitioners faced with unanticipated complications.

Powerpoint: Planning in Politically Uncertain Times, Jonathan Blattmachr

“The estate tax repeal is the art of the deal giveback. I’m glad the president had the foresight to put this in his plan —it actually shows his unselfishness. By design, he’ll take the incoming fire from the left and then he’ll cede the repeal and give the other side a victory, too. For the good of the country and the forgotten middle class, the White House will likely negotiate a bump in the minimum estate value taxable from $5.49 million to $10 million to $20 million.” Trugman, NY Post 10/1/17

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Estate Planning in a Politically Uncertain, Economically Turbulent and Interest Rate Environment

Virtually, all estate planners are aware that the current “conditions” in the United States are quite different than they have been for several years. One critical condition is that the wealth that was eroded in 2009 and 2010 by the Great Recession has largely been restored while interest rates have remained low and that likely is reflected in part by the stock market reaching historic highs and very high price earnings ratiosfor publicly traded securities.

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