Sample Planning Tools
Family Limited Partnerships
Limited partnerships have been widely used in the context of estate planning for about the past 30 years.
Gift Trusts for Family Members
The ideal time to transfer assets to trusts for family members is when the gifted asset has a low value and is expected to appreciate in the future.
Lifetime Family Trusts
You can create one or more separate lifetime family trusts for the benefit of each of you and your family members.
Grantor Retained Annuity Trust
As to assets that are relatively volatile, or assets that seem likely to appreciate in value, then you should consider creating one or more Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (“GRATs”) to transfer future appreciation of these types of assets to your family members.
Charitable Remainder Trust
One type of charitable trust is a charitable remainder trust (“CRT”). A CRT is a type of trust that pays back to you, or pays to your family members, a certain amount per year.
Private Foundations
In addition to the various techniques for benefiting your family described above, you may want to consider creating a private foundation to implement your charitable planning.
Sale to Grantor Trust
As an alternative to the gifting strategies described above, you could consider selling assets, such as limited partnership interests, to trusts that benefit you (if another family member creates a trust for you) or your family members.
Beneficiary Defective Trust
One mechanism to shelter estate taxes on assets with expected rapid appreciation is for a relative of yours (or other third party) to create a beneficiary defective trust with you as the beneficiary.
Revocable Living Trusts
We will create a fully funded revocable living trust for each of you which will serve as a will substitute in order to avoid probate at both your deaths.
Life Insurance Trust
Under State law, the cash value of life insurance is not protected from creditor claims. At death, the death proceeds of life insurance you own are included in your estate for estate tax purposes.
Lifetime Gifting Program
A lifetime gifting program allows you to avoid gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxon transferred assets.
Charitable Lead Trust
The Charitable Lead Trust is a type of charitable trust that can reduce or virtually eliminate all estate tax on wealth passing to heirs.
Qualified Personal Residence Trust
A Qualified Personal Residence Trust (“QPRT”) is a type of trust specifically authorized by the Internal Revenue Code.
Family Investment Company
A limited liability company can provide significant asset protection for assets owned by the entity in the event of a lawsuit against an individual member of the company.
Irrevocable Grantor Trust
A “grantor” trust is a trust that contains certain provisions set forth in the Internal Revenue Code,which defines these types of trusts.
The Private Family Foundation
A Special Needs Trust is a trust that can supplement the needs of a special needs beneficiary while allowing the beneficiary to maintain his or her governmental benefits, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security and Medicaid.
Life Insurance
Life insurance is a unique asset in that it serves numerous diverse functions in a tax-favored environment.
Long-Term Care Insurance
Long-term care is the type of care that you may need if you can no longer perform "activities of daily living" by yourself, such as eating, bathing or getting dressed.
Annuities
An annuity is a contract between you, the contract owner, and an insurance company for a fixed or increasing payment.
529 Plans
Named after the Section of the Internal Revenue Code that creates them, Section 529 plans are unique, tax-favored educational savings vehicles.
Planning for Tax-Qualified Plans
Planning for tax-qualified plans, which includes IRAs, 401(k)s and qualified retirement plans, requires a careful examination of the potential taxes that impact these assets.
Alaska Community Property Trust
The Alaska Community Property Trust is a specific type of trust that allows you to transfer assets to children and grandchildren in an asset protected manner while reducing or eliminating income tax on highly appreciated assets.
Stand-Alone Trust for Tax-Qualified
IRAs and qualified plans create a unique planning challenge in that these assets are subject to income tax when received by the beneficiary (this is discussed more fully under Planning for TaxQualified Plans).
Inheritor's Trust
An Inheritor's Trust is a trust established for the specific purpose of receiving an inheritance in a manner that is protected from your creditors and excluded from your estate for federal estate tax purposes.
Stand-Alone Educational Trust
A Stand-Alone Educational Trust is a type of trust that can pay for educational expenses, solve income tax issues, and provide an important piece of your estate plan.
Revocable Gift Trust
A Revocable Gift Trust is a particular type of revocable trust for educational or other specified purposes, often established for grandchildren or other close family members.
Domestic Self-Settled Asset Protection
A Family Bank Trust, or Lifetime Bypass Trust, is a type of irrevocable trust that provides complete asset protection for your spouse and descendants, and removes the trust assets from your estate and the estates of your spouse and descendants for estate tax purposes.
Young Person's Trust
As the custodian of UTMA or UGMA assets, you are responsible for investing those assets for the child's benefit.
Stay Bonus
A StayBonus is an inducement to your key employees to remain with the company after your death to preserve the enterprise value of the business.
