Bogleheads.org

arf1410 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 3:58 pm

Capricorn212 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 2:43 pm

celia wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 2:06 pm It doesn’t matter that much what you (or us) think. The decision is up to the three of you.

If you’ve received your share of the undisputed estate and it is over $250k (meaning the estate was over a million plus $250k), personally I would just call it a day. Life is too short to spend it on an extended lawsuit.

The entire estate was, about $500 million - and maybe calling it a day, is really the best option and moving on.

did you mean to say the entire estate was about $500,000? your other bogelheads posts arent consistent with someone who will inherit $100 million+

That is my question too. Did he mean $500K? Why did Capricorn212 disappear without answering the question by arf1410?

I don’t understand why the fee would be based on the percentage of the assets. The amount of work depends on the number and type of assets, not so much the value. I don't understand either. You've already answered your own question. I would not hire him; find someone else. Plenty of competent lawyers out there and the fees will be much less. The charging as a percent by the lawyer is the same as a financial advisor trying to get you onto an AUM plan. Don't do it. Pay by the hour and do as much of it yourself as you can. I did a lot of my father's estate myself 15 years ago with a little help from an attorney to handle some out of state mineral rights. That was above my pay-grade and the attorney handled all that. I spent about $3000 in law...

fabdog wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 6:46 am yes, that's incorrect. The Taxes-production go on line 16 of the Schedule E entry to reduce your income. The taxes withheld are separate and go towards your refund. And don't forget your depletion as well to reduce the royalty income.

Mike

That what I did. I just thought it was strange how TT combined them this year and I don't remember that in 2021. I take all the information from the oil 1099's and put it into a spreadsheet the way it should be so I can double check how TT imports things and to make sure the depletion matches what I have in my spreadsheet.

Over the past few years I have been winding down my taxable international holdings due to the foreign tax credit headache. Whenever I donate to a DAF, I've been using VXUS shares. Even if my VXUS shares aren't the ones with the highest long term gains. I don't have concrete numbers, but it feels like the amount paid in foreign taxes keeps increasing relative to VXUS holdings, and the FTC easy button limit of $600 seems forever stagnant. Years ago when I first started looking at tax efficient fund placement on this site, it seemed that the overall consensus was to hold VXUS in taxable, or at least that it didn't hurt anything. I feel like that trend has shifted and the recommendation is to now hold VXUS in tax advantaged accounts only. Ever...

Depends on the context. Describing someone who can liquidate all their belongings and come up with $1M+ cash is very different than describing someone who has security of shelter/water/food/energy/education/health/legal/etc. The only useful context I have seen “millionaire” used is to differentiate someone who has the above securities without working. For that purpose, I would say millionaire is someone with $10M+ in assets that are producing income, such that even without working there is enough passive income to not have to worry about anything. Can add or subtract a few million for lower and higher cost of living places. Maybe decamillionaire is the right word instead of millionaire. I use inflation calculator to see what 1 million doll...

This year when Turbotax imports the 1099-misc for oil royalties it is placing the combined dollar amount for both Box 16 for state income tax withheld AND Taxes-Production into box 16 in Turbotax. It leads to a much greater refund but I think the I should manually overwrite that field with just the amount found in box 16 on the 1099-misc. I would like the bigger refund but I am pretty positive that it is importing improperly this year. Last year TT only imported the state withholding tax into box 16. Advice would be appreciated.

I had posted previously my accountant had made 100,000 mistake on my 2021 taxes ..since then she has revised my taxes .. My question is my income was extremely high for 2021 still around 400,000 due to selling two houses ..which we had a difficult time looking after during Covid people not paying etc. etc. now with my 22 taxes I am back to my original taxable income. What is the best way to apply for lRAMM adjustment since this is an unusual circumstances, Previously, I have not paid any dues for IRAMM. Just a note, I did not even know IRAMM existed till I joined Bogleheads and learning all the new way to live in retirement. All the help is always appreciated. Thanking all the Bogleheads for this website. Doesn't the life-changing event ha...

erp wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:04 pm But the real question is, did you receive free TurboTax?? otw nothing else even matters!

I don't care you are, that there was funny!

I am seeing $54 for Premier Online. But I always do the download. It is showing me a download price of $90! How do i get the $54 price for download! Are you seeing the free offer on your Fidelity Portfolio page while in Beta mode? Or are you looking on the taxes page? Should you qualify for the free offer? I certainly think i should qualify for the free offer. But Fidelity disagrees. But anyway, looks like I have to purchase it this year. Do you know the best place to purchase the download version? Edit: I think i discovered the problem. I no longer have a financial consultant listed on my statement. I had the same guy for decades. Now i don't have one. https://www.walmart.com/search?q=turbotax%202022%20premier Link from Walmart for $64. N...

livesoft wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 4:45 pm Consolidated 1099-R? Never heard of it. Can you show a photo of it?

A consolidated 1099 has a 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, and a 1099-B combined, but no 1099-R. This 1099-R thing is throwing off a few responders including me.

A 1099-R is for distributions from a retirement account. You will receive one of these if you pull out from an IRA (etc) or do Roth Conversions. I have received the 1099-R already but the forms you are looking for come out later.

One benefit of keeping your work insurance that wasn't mentioned was the IRMAA penalties that apply to higher income earners. I got a big surprise when I signed up for Medicare at 65 instead of keeping my company health plan. Medicare was better coverage BUT the premium I pay for both my wife and I is substantially more than the company plan was. I didn't know that (IRMAA penalties from 2 years prior income) and I probably would have worked with my employer to keep my plan, even though I was very part time at the end, if the company rules would have allowed it (I didn't check before pulling the trigger). I didn't check because I thought Medicare would be a better deal but I was wrong. If you are higher income or if you are doing Roth Conver...

I just find it amazing that this thread about trying to save a bit of money is eight pages long. Am I missing something here? I buy the Home and Business version when I see it on sale for about $85 and call it a day. Why are people talking about spending all this time tracking down the elusive TT discount that may or may not be at Fidelity? I am just really curious about this as I see the same thing with a certain segment of the Quicken crowd that are just terribly upset about Quicken going to an annual fee about 5 years ago. They still complain about it on a regular basis on the forum and I don't get it.

The older I get the less I value my money and the more I value my time.

I spoke with someone a Vanguard a while ago about the new platform that all my kids have while I have the old (BETTER) platform. I was trying to find something for them and it didn't work like mine. The tech was very candid and said the management did not consult with them or customers when designing this new platform. I said I understand and appreciated the truth. Sometimes new and improved is not so new and improved.

Mileage from a home based business is okay. Here is info about that. The commute to your other job is not deductible. https://www.thebalancemoney.com/deducting-business-travel-to-and-from-a-home-business-398587 Don't forget the home office deduction. I set up an empty bedroom as my office and do my computer work there. I do a simple home office which I think $5/square foot of the room or about $700 for the deduction in my case. Health insurance (or medicare) premiums are deductible but as mentioned above, they are taken out AFTER the SE tax. Example is that you show a profit after all expenses of $10K and you pay @ $1500 for SE tax (@15%). If you had $16K for insurance you would be able to deduct up to the profit level of your business whic...

My mother also has a retiree UHC Medicare Advantage plan and I only see SSA have taken money for Part B and not also Part D. Was the Part B taken just the standard premium without any additional IRMAA? Then there would be no Part D IRMAA taken out of her SS. She's never been in IRMAA territory, so I can't say about the Part D IRMAA surcharge. But, I had a look at her last year 1099-SSA and her current SS deductions and there are no separate line items for Part D, but there are for Part B and she's on a retiree UHC Advantage plan that includes drug coverage. Honestly, her plan is stellar, but the retiree pool for her plan is very large, so that helps I'm sure. I have a MedAdvantage plan and I have to pay IRMAA charges for part B and part D....

Kevin M wrote: ↑Sun Nov 27, 2022 1:25 pm DW and I are paying more than $600 each in part B and D premiums in 2022 due to IRMAA, which was triggered by a large Roth conversion in 2020. We will be paying a similar amount in 2023 due to a large capital gain from the sale of my previous home in 2021. AFAIK, there is no way around this.

I estimate that we will be paying some IRMAA for the rest of our lives once we are both taking RMDs in a few years.

I feel ya Kevin. Roth conversions give me the same type of IRMAA and even when I stop the conversions in my 70's the SS and RMD's will push me into the same ranges so like you, IRMAA is our forever issue. Oh well, First World Problems right?

ryman554 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 8:10 am

zeugmite wrote: ↑Mon Nov 07, 2022 8:43 pm Is the free 2022 Turbotax out yet on Fidelity?

No

Heck, if you look online, the 2023 (2022 tax year) TurboTax isn't even live yet.

Actually I got an email from TT on 11/6/22 saying the new version for 2022 taxes is available. Just an FYI.

I use TurboTax not OLT and this seems to take place automatically although I don't think I have ever had a carryback that I am aware of. Unfortunately, Turbotax does it wrong -- it automatically carries forward unused foreign tax without checking or asking if it could be carried back to preceding year, as is required by tax law. This irks me because I dutifully carry back and file amended returns (as does the OP), yet it appears many TT users simply carry forward and get away with it. Seems to me that if you carry back you get the use of the credit sooner than if you carry forward but carrying forward is easier. You get the credit either way (eventually) so why would the IRS care? They hang on to the money until your credits finally catch ...

nalor511 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 26, 2022 12:30 pm Yes it will. That's what the thread was about, trying to figure out exactly what I need to amend

Thanks for the info and good luck on that extra work.

RetiredCSProf wrote: ↑Tue Oct 25, 2022 10:58 pm It sounds like you have a clear understanding of the mismatch between marginal income tax rates and IRMAA tiers. After a few years of trying to keep my MAGI just under a given IRMAA cliff, I have given up and just consider the marginal tax rate. Another factor that I consider is safe harbor rules -- easier to calculate safe harbor based on the previous year's income than the current year's income. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: Retired CSProf, I wasn't following how you brought safe harbor into the topic but after reading a little further now I see your point and you are just like me. I rarely use the 90% of THIS years owed ...

Yes I have done carry forward and it happens automatically (especially nice now that 1116.sch.b was added last year to track carry forward very well). Carry back is what caused the confusion for me, just because I wasn't sure exactly which fields I needed to update on my amended return. Cheers I understand why we have carry forward but what situation results in a carry back? Is that adding more foreign income or less or something else? Really curious about this and how you get into that particular situation. More income (and taxes) in 2021 than in 2022, and so can't use the full amount of the credit in 2022, but can make use of it in 2021. The rule says first carry back 1 year then forward up to 10 years then expire Does that require you t...

It sounds like you have a clear understanding of the mismatch between marginal income tax rates and IRMAA tiers. After a few years of trying to keep my MAGI just under a given IRMAA cliff, I have given up and just consider the marginal tax rate. Another factor that I consider is safe harbor rules -- easier to calculate safe harbor based on the previous year's income than the current year's income. Please expand on the safe harbor rules. What are they and how do they play into this? The safe harbor rules that come to mind for me is related to quarterly tax estimates I pay to avoid underpayment penalties. I usually pay 110% of last year's taxes so I feel "safe". I sometimes pay in less than that at the end if I know my final income...

nalor511 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 25, 2022 9:14 pm Yes I have done carry forward and it happens automatically (especially nice now that 1116.sch.b was added last year to track carry forward very well). Carry back is what caused the confusion for me, just because I wasn't sure exactly which fields I needed to update on my amended return. Cheers

I understand why we have carry forward but what situation results in a carry back? Is that adding more foreign income or less or something else? Really curious about this and how you get into that particular situation.

Is your target for Roth conversions driven off the tax brackets or the IRMAA tiers? I target going up to the top of the 24% tax bracket, though if I convert an additional $25K this year, my wife would probably be under the third tier of IRMAA (projected respectively to be at $382K or $390K with zero or 5% inflation assumptions by the Finance Buff for 2024), but we'd blow past the 24% tax bracket and land in the 32% tax bracket for 2022, MFJ. I'm toying with the idea of making that additional conversion, but on the other hand -- I'm not sure the extra bang for the additional conversion is worth the buck. I have a few weeks to decide this for ourselves. (My wife, but not me, is enrolled in Medicare Part B.) I keep thinking we should free my ...

I just started doing Roth conversions 3 years ago and trying to get near the top of the 24% bracket while being aware of the IRMAA bracket/cliff points. The income tax bracket is always set as it is already written for this year but trying to target what my MAGI should be this year is a little tough as we don't really know what the IRMAA bracket will be until a couple of years later. I just reviewed the last 3 years and see that the IRMAA point was actually higher than I thought as we based it on that year's IRMAA so I was way under that. It actually ended up being about $20K higher. I missed out on more Roth conversions as I didn't want to go over IRMAA but the history shows that in hind site I am just a little past the IRMAA break point w...

OLT.com customer support to the rescue, they say it is indeed ty.2021.form.1116.line.10 that needs adjusting along with adding ty.2021.form.1040x. They also reminded me not to do it until ty.2022 return is filed and accepted by the IRS I use TurboTax not OLT and this seems to take place automatically although I don't think I have ever had a carryback that I am aware of. I am usually carrying forward though the way it is going I think my excess credit will catch up in a couple of years of returns. I just got done looking at my return and worksheets from TT and understand the form a little better because of your question. My question is does OLT not do this for you automatically or is it because you have a carryback that I have never seen an...

Partially correct. Confusion often surrounds the term "split gift." When the gift is from joint spousal property (community property or not), the IRS will presume it is a 50% gift by each spouse. Each spouse is making a gift of property that each spouse owns - in the eyes of the IRS. That is NOT a "split gift." A split gift is when the spouses make an election to treat a gift of property owned by one spouse as being made 50% by each spouse. This is done to utilize the annual exclusion (and sometimes the lifetime exemption) of both spouses against the gift made by one spouse. It often happens when one spouse owns much more assets than the other, or is the sole owner of a specific asset they want to give. And when gift-sp...

I'm wondering if the "many thousands" includes the tax that is owed in any case. That would seem to be far more than any penalties or interest. That was my assumption, the OP notwithstanding... Someone raised that question earlier. The OP responded by saying: "You're wrong. The penalties and interest are many thousands." I keep wondering why the OP hasn't answered this important question that would help interested parties truly understand what is going on. I am very curious as to the breakdown of the "many thousands" of interest and penalties. I think most people here assume the vast majority of that money must be taxes owed and not paid. Why hasn't he answered that simple question? I started a new business in...

If it otherwise makes a reasonable amount of sense, Roth conversion would also seem to get around the problem that Kitces apparently was seeing from his perspective as a financial planner in 2015: that people were washing up on his shores who could and should have been taking the federal IRD deduction, but were not. No doubt they *would* have been taking it if they were in the care of a good estates and trusts attorney/accountant, but who knows what was happening out there in the real world. A number of years ago I was marginally involved (in a good way) with an unusual and interesting case. Here's what happened, using round numbers: Husband died with $30 mil estate, including $10 mil in an IRA with spouse (2nd marriage) as beneficiary. Es...

The problem is that while the beneficiaries get an income deduction for the Federal estate tax on the IRA, there’s no income tax deduction for the state estate or inheritance tax. At a 16% tax rate (the top state rate in every state before 2002), the Federal tax is 33.6% after the Federal deduction for the state tax. So the state tax can be about 1/3 of the total (or more in some states). The Roth conversion avoids this problem. Thank you bsteiner for you attention in this matter. Last night I saw your first response that mentioned The 691(c) IRD Deduction. I did a quick search and the 2nd hit was the Kitces article which I started to read but then went to bed before I finished it. I see quite a bit more on this thread today related to my ...

Just looking for review by other of what I have been looking at. Here is the scenario.

Person inherits $50 mil so @ 26 mil is subject to estate tax of 40%. Lets say that $10 mil of it is a SEP-IRA. Is this math right?

$10,000,000 X 0.40 = 4,000,000 tax so $6 mil left in IRA. Having to take the funds out of the IRA over 10 years requires @ $600k/year. For a single tax payer that would put them in the 37% tax bracket each year for RMD. That would be $6 mil X 0.37 (income tax) = $2.22 mil tax which leaves $3.78 mil after taxes. In essence, the estate tax and income tax combined over 10 years would take 62% of the $10 mil in the IRA?

Am I doing the math right?

.... Although the Form 709 instructions are not fully clear on this issue, the IRS clarifies their position on the issue on their website. Specifically, within the link posted above by @basicbrewing, the IRS states that if spouses make a gift from property they own together then each spouse is entitled to the annual exclusion on that gift. So if the spouses make a $32K gift in 2022 from property they own together (such as a joint account), then each spouse can take their $16K annual exclusion on that gift, and absent any other gifts, no gift tax return is required. MarkNYC is one of the experts I was hoping would address this issue. My wife and I fund our grandchildren's 529 accounts by having me get on the phone with a Vanguard rep and as...

In my version of 2021 TurboTax you go to the "Forms" button in the upper right side. When the list of forms opens on the left side choose "Tax History" near the bottom of the list. When that opens you should see "Effective" and "Marginal" tax rates of the past few years in the bottom 2 lines of the grid. Let me know if this helps.

So if my wife and I were not married, and EACH wrote a check to child for $16K then we would not have to complete a gift tax return every year? If we are married, and do the exact same thing (write two checks), individually stay under the reportable limit, we have to file a [gift] tax return? Perhaps a recognized "expert" on Form 709 will respond. The question here does not seem to be whether any actual gift tax will be owed, but whether both spouses would need to file Form 709 if, together, they made gifts in calendar year 2022 totaling less than $32,001 benefitting the same individual, such as a 529 beneficiary. As a non-expert, I read the instructions to say if each spouse writes a separate check for $16K for funds which will ...

Thanks but the info you noted only talks about the amounts you can give, which we already know. It doesn't confirm that no form is needed as the other poster noted. Did I misread that part? I just hate to pay to have the form completed when there will be no tax owed anyway. These are the actual instructions. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i709 Gift splitting needs to be elected if it's a split gift. So to avoid that, it's crystal clear it's one from each of you if separate accounts are used unless you're in a community property state whereby it's presumed to be a fifty fifty gift. So if my wife and I were not married, and EACH wrote a check to child for $16K then we would not have to complete a gift tax return every year? If we are marri...

My wife and I gifted $32K to one of our grandchildren's 529s this year. I am the owner of the plan. We do not plan to report the gifts, $16K from each of us, on Form 709. Can anyone confirm this is true with a link to source? I am reading and hearing that some say no form in this exact situation and others say return is required if couple gives 32K due to spitting rules and consent. My CPA said I don't need to but my financial adviser said I do. I have scoured Google and see opinions both ways. Can anyone confirm either way with a link to explicit, definitive language? Confirm it is true. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/frequently-asked-questions-on-gift-taxes Scroll down to "What if my spouse and I want ...

fourwheelcycle wrote: ↑Fri Jul 22, 2022 5:56 am My wife and I gifted $32K to one of our grandchildren's 529s this year. I am the owner of the plan. We do not plan to report the gifts, $16K from each of us, on Form 709.

Can anyone confirm this is true with a link to source? I am reading and hearing that some say no form in this exact situation and others say return is required if couple gives 32K due to spitting rules and consent. My CPA said I don't need to but my financial adviser said I do. I have scoured Google and see opinions both ways. Can anyone confirm either way with a link to explicit, definitive language?

testing321 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:45 pm I also did some consulting which allowed me to deduct medical and dental premiums.

I have a certain amount of funds owed me for consulting work and am being paid over time. I can control the income flow but it will eventually be all paid off to me and done. I didn't know until I did taxes last year that you can only claim the medical premiums up to the amount of profit you show. You have to pay SS taxes (@15%) on the profit in order to deduct the premium. If you are in the 22% bracket you would subtract 15% and that would leave only a 7% net deduction on the premiums and 22% net deduction on any other business expenses. Am I looking at that correctly?

“From the download version: Select Forms from the TurboTax menu. In Forms mode, select Summary. TurboTax displays the Summary panel. Your marginal tax rate (based on the information you've entered so far) is shown in the Quick Graphs section of the Summary panel.” https://turbotax.community.intuit.ca/community/tax-topics/help/what-is-my-marginal-tax-rate/00/873533 I found this online as well but I still couldn't find the MARGINAL tax rate. I found the EFFECTIVE tax rate listed on the "Return Summary" which is the 2nd to the last form option in the left hand list when in forms mode. I didn't see "Summary" as an option to chose, only "Return Summary" and "Tax Summary". Is "Summary" one of tho...

I always enjoy reading what TomatoTomahto has to say. Maybe it is just my Confirmation Bias but I think he is pretty grounded.

My wife and I are 77 and 79 years old respectively. Our health is fair to good. So far I am a bladder and prostate cancer survivor. We have no long term insurance and a small pension of a 1000 dollars a month. We also have social security monthly net of 500 and 2200 respectively. Our yearly dividends are around 30 to 36k a year. The past few years we had to deal with the Obama Medicare surcharges, because of required minimum distribution. We have no liabilities and we own a house. Our investment is around 60 stock/ 40 bonds/cash which includes about 2 to three years of cash cushion. We know the are so many variables on how much might be needed in the future. The last few years we gave each child 30,00 dollars. In 2021 we even transferred 9...

I assume the TT doesn't put charitable deductions on line 3b because they are not found on Schedule 1 Adjustments to Income. They are found on 1040 line 12b. I have three items on Schedule 1 Adjustments to Income, and all three got carried over to Form 1116 Line 3b. IRS publication on mentions alimony as the ONE example and it would be helpful if they had said "Alimony, HSA, Self Employed SS, health insurance premiums deductible by self employed, etc). It sounds like you are saying to list the amounts for HSA, Self Employed SS, health insurance premiums on Line 3b? Am I reading you right? The comment about charitable deductions was because grabiner often mentions that TT put charitable deductions on Line 3a (same effect as 3b) when he...

Are you doing Roth Conversions at all? If so, taking SS early decreases the Tax Window that you have to do those. Just another thing to take into consideration. I am doing Roth conversions up to 24% bracket so I want as big a window as possible and will wait until 70. We did start my wife on her's but it is small and when I start to collect she will file for Spousal Benefits and increase her monthly amount by 50-60%.

I assume the TT doesn't put charitable deductions on line 3b because they are not found on Schedule 1 Adjustments to Income. They are found on 1040 line 12b. I have three items on Schedule 1 Adjustments to Income, and all three got carried over to Form 1116 Line 3b. IRS publication on mentions alimony as the ONE example and it would be helpful if they had said "Alimony, HSA, Self Employed SS, health insurance premiums deductible by self employed, etc). It sounds like you are saying to list the amounts for HSA, Self Employed SS, health insurance premiums on Line 3b? Am I reading you right? The comment about charitable deductions was because grabiner often mentions that TT put charitable deductions on Line 3a (same effect as 3b) when he...

While it is certainly not definitive, TurboTax places all 3 of the items mentioned by the OP on Line 3b. That placement can obviously be overridden but I would certainly be cautious in doing so. As a pre-emptive response, TT no longer puts charitable deductions on Line 3b, and hasn't for several years. I assume the TT doesn't put charitable deductions on line 3b because they are not found on Schedule 1 Adjustments to Income. They are found on 1040 line 12b. I have three items on Schedule 1 Adjustments to Income, and all three got carried over to Form 1116 Line 3b. IRS publication on mentions alimony as the ONE example and it would be helpful if they had said "Alimony, HSA, Self Employed SS, health insurance premiums deductible by self...

nomas wrote: Hi livesoft, Thank you for your reply. I removed the entry for the HSA contribution on Line 3b. This increased my FTC by $81. I think that for that amount of money, I'll leave the HSA contribution deduction on LIne 3b and pay the additional $81 in taxes. I have been reading up on this issue and the answers are all over the board saying yes do it, don't do it, etc. Even my CPA can't answer it without paying him extra to take a deep dive into it. He says he pays for expensive software that does all that internally. I didn't like that answer. If I leave in the HSA, SE SS and business health insurance premiums in as entries on Line 3b then my FTC drops about $350 which decreases my refund by the same amount. My CPA submitted my re...

What' if anything is available online varies from state to state, and often by county within a state. You could check the website of the probate court in your county (or some other county) to see what if anything is available online. In many years, I've only had two cases where privacy was a concern. One was well-known entertainer who was leaving bequests to various female friends. He left a cash bequest to a separate trust and put the bequests to these friends in the separate trusts. The other controlled a thinly traded company and didn't want others in the company to know his succession plans during his lifetime or his competitors to know them upon his death. He created a revocable trust. Most celebrities don't care that their Wills are ...

Many people are told they need a trust, and may pay quite a bit to set it up, and still need help at end from an attorney for no savings. The reason to see a lawyer is for the trustee to get their questions answered and find out the order things should be done so they don’t screw up the purpose of the trust. There are also state-mandated rules that are not listed in the trust as they can change after the trust is created. For example, in CA the trustee must give a copy of the trust and list of assets to the heirs. Then a certain period of time is mandated for anyone to object before the trustee continues. And if the trustee has not been trustee for a few years, they may need to publish a notice that _____ has died and all claims of money o...

Otherwise, it just front loads the work. It’s neither better nor worse. I read these threads at times to see why people have such a concern for probate. I handled my dads estate 15 years ago and there was a small trust involved and we still had a lot of work to do and had to pay attorney fees. I also did a lot of the work for free (as a result MY will includes a fee for the executor) but there were out of state properties that required an attorney to look up and get titles all split up and transferred properly. I asked him what the benefit of a trust is if we had to hire an attorney anyway (he was not my dad's attorney) and he said he didn't really recommend trusts for most estates because of that reason. Many people are told they need a t...

Thanks for the confirmation of what I thought I was to do. The Fidelity info was easy and is on the supplemental page as you also noted. The vanguard is listed stock by stock with the amount and also the tax amount. I entered them into a spread sheet to add them up. I also took the dividends from the international fund and multiplied by the percentage they listed for the fund. I also called both companies about foreign stock sales and found the info I needed about whether those LTCG are considered foreign or not. I guess I will leave everything just as I had already entered it. Just glad to get the confirmation that I did it correctly.