The estate tax, enacted 100 years ago on September 8, 1915, when revenue was needed to fight a war, is a polarizing tax with enemies and friends on both sides [...]

We love to plan happy events – vacations, weddings, backyard parties. Planning for your eventual demise doesn’t have the same appeal. Yet if you want to at least try to [...]

It’s been nearly ten years since litigation over the James Brown estate. Funding from his “I Feel Good” trust, has yet to make its way to needy students in North [...]

It makes sense to have family members at the helm of charitable family foundations. After all, who knows better what the family members intended? The IRS doesn’t see it that [...]

The IRS is typically delighted to accept immediate payment for monies owed, in any form of U.S. currency. But for those who owe the IRS vast sums of money (maybe [...]

Estate planning attorneys were told that several new reporting requirements would go into effect in August, but the IRS was not quite ready to actually implement their own new rules. [...]

The stories of family relationships destroyed by the lack of wills or unfair distribution of assets are heartbreaking. Despite all evidence to the contrary, people somehow think that their adult [...]

In the past, one would have to go to local court offices to research old wills, using microfiche machines dating back a few decades themselves. But today, millions of wills, [...]

The estate sale has moved from a do-it-yourself enterprise into a big business. Seniors eager to empty their nests before their kids do it, as well as heirs who just [...]

The growing popularity of Pet Trusts in the United States is further proof that as a nation we love our pets and consider them members of our families, even if [...]