Blog Posts: Estate Planning

A large component of asset protection planning is designed to help protect your business and investment assets from claims by your personal creditors.  If you have a corporation and a creditor gets a personal judgment against you, the creditor can seize the stock of your corporation.  If you are the sole owner and your business is held in a corporation, i...

A receivership is an invaluable tool for managing, accounting for, marshaling, and preserving assets of whatever nature or kind. Although most often utilized by lenders, a receiver can be beneficial in any number of situations, including business disputes, partner disputes, and divorce proceedings. The limits of a receivership are as broad or as narrow as the part...

The decline of a family member’s health can be one of the most difficult emotional challenges that a family will face. If that ailing family member hasn’t adequately planned for such an event, the burden rests on the family to step in and care for them. Without proper legal authority, this can be difficult. Fortunately, the court provides a process ...

Under the new tax law, estate tax has not been repealed. However, there is relief for higher net worth individuals, business owners and people with large estates that have little or no liquidity who previously might have sold their assets to pay estate taxes. Effective January 1, 2018, the new estate tax laws increased the lifetime exclusion from estate tax, gi...

Congress enacted the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (“BBA”) under which existing partnership audit rules have been replaced. The new BBA audit rules are broad and complex and effective for partnership tax returns filed for tax years beginning in 2018. Under the prior audit rules, the tax liability flowed through to each partner. Under the new audit r...

The overhaul of the Internal Revenue Code was passed by Congress on December 21, 2017 and signed into law by the President.  Many changes become effective January 1, 2018.  Although 2017 is almost over, the following are some actions to consider taking now to potentially save taxes.   Before the end of 2017 consider taking the following actions:Pa...

Tax Consequences of Foreclosure-with a HELOC It is common for homeowners to have a house that is "upside down", many with first and second mortgages. Houses that were purchased a number of years ago appreciated rapidly in a short period of time and it was easy to pull on the home's equity by securing an equity line of credit. That equity may have been used for many...

Tax Consequences of Foreclosure or Short Sale of Personal Residence in Arizona It is difficult to read any economic news or watch a local TV news program without seeing the prevalence of foreclosures and short sales of personal residences in Arizona.  It is not uncommon in today's economic crisis to own a home that was purchased in the last five years that is subs...

Why Young Adults Need Power of Attorneys  When children turn 18, they legally become adults.  If there was a catastrophic life event which rendered them unable to make their own life decisions, their parents no longer have any legal rights.  If the young adult becomes seriously ill or disabled, it may require a court appointed guardian to make finan...

In an economic downturn, individuals and business owners may question whether or not it is a good investment to spend time and resources on an estate or business succession plan. Actually, it is an excellent time. First, business may have slowed down enough for the owners to focus on the next generation ownership and secondly, your estate may be able to take advant...