Many times I have the family of the second spouse contact me regarding probate of his or her estate. As I discuss the matter I learn that the first spouse died years earlier, and, since everything passed to the second spouse, no probate was done for the first spouse.
While this isn’t an insurmountable problem,…
It is golf season again, and I am getting out to the range a bit with my “old stuff.” I know…why are you hitting that? The new clubs are so much easier to hit. Sure I enjoy playing the new stuff, but I always go back to the old stuff. The new gear seems to…
One of the changes made by the new tax act was to increase the standard deduction to $12,000 or $24,000 for a married couple filing jointly. The upshot of that will be that many people will claim the standard deduction rather than itemize. If they make any charitable contributions but total itemized deductions are still…
The new tax act temporarily increases the lifetime estate exemption to $11.2 million. This change took effect on January 1, but sunsets on December 31, 2025. On January 1, 2026, the exemption reverts back to the current $5.6 million, subject to inflation adjustment. It is quite possible that the larger exemption doesn’t make it to…
If you own real property outside of your state of residence when you die, you will have to conduct an ancillary probate in that state to transfer title to the property to your beneficiaries. In some states, like Texas, ancillary probate is a simple process of recording copies of the out of state probate in…
As we wait to see if Congress can pass a tax bill, we now know that estate taxes for the very wealthy will not be repealed immediately or at all. The House bill that was passed yesterday bumps the lifetime exemption to $10 million indexed for inflation and retains the estate tax through 2023. The Senate…
A power of attorney is a document in which you give someone else the power to act on your behalf for financial transactions. Texas, like many states, has adopted a statutory durable power of attorney form. The form has a laundry list of transactions from which you can pick and choose from, and you can…
Proposed Valuation Discount Regulations Under Section 2704
This week the Treasury pulled proposed regulations under Code Section 2704 that would have virtually eliminated valuation discounts for family limited partnerships. https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2017/oct/treasury-will-pull-sec-2704-and-other-burdensome-rules-201717601.html
This was not surprise, as a prior blog post noted. So there is a window that is wide open for discount planning, and this…
A recent Tax Court case, Estate of Minnie Lynn Sower, http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/UstcInOp/OpinionViewer.aspx?ID=11392, illustrates that, even though there is no estate due and a 706 return is filed to claim a deceased spouse’s unused exemption amount (“DSUE”) to preserve portability, care must still be exercised in preparing that return.
In Sower, the Tax Court re-examined the estate…
Texas has one of the most expansive homestead laws in the country. Homestead designation protects the homeowner from creditors claims, other than certain taxes and loans secured with the homestead. This blog post will cover the types of Texas homesteads, and who benefits from homestead designation.
Types of Homesteads
There are two types of…
