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In my limited experience with estates, people should disclose their will and trust provisions to any potential beneficiaries. When a [potential] beneficiary is surprised by the will or a perceived unfairness, they do not blame the deceased. They blame the executor or the other beneficiaries -- which tends to ruin the previous family dynamics, especially if it was the deceased that was the "glue" that held the family together. That’s great if the beneficiaries can maturely absorb the parent/grandparent’s desires. However, in many cases such disclosure merely starts the family discord early and spoils the parent/grandparent’s final peace. Unfortunately there is no one failsafe approach; not even trying to raise the type of family t...

The cynic in me thinks the HOA board is just going to do what it wants to for the insiders unless subject to the jurisdiction of a judge who, in turn, is not going to care what anyone but a surveyor thinks either. But if you have a chance of convincing the HOA of taking some action based on your interpretation of the legal description then I wish you good luck in your surveyorless quest.

Although there are myriad ways to implement, it basically come down to this: 1) assets going directly to the spouse (which you have to assume will never make it back to your kids/family) 2) assets going directly to your kids/family (subject to potential divestment to the extent of spousal elective share and similar rights if not waived) 3) assets for spouse’s benefit but with remainder back to your family (such as marital trusts and life estates, with plenty of opportunity for discord) This is where an estate planner really earns their pay, as it’s basically doing surgery on a hand grenade. But to get started the planner needs to know 1) your goals with respect to the allocation above and 2) can this be done with the spouse’s consent or do ...

1) can you do this yourself? Sure, if you’re a surveyor.
2) what kind of professional? See above.
3) is there software? Yes, surveyors use software.

Bonus: Abraham Lincoln and other early lawyers were also surveyors. Pretty important skills when colonizing a new continent, or when getting into a fight about your HOA’s common area. May your better angels, and your better angles, prevail.

Northern Flicker wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 12:22 am The question is not whether these bonds are risky and could go to zero, but whether they can be wiped out while stockholders preserve some equity.

Whatever article I read about this suggested that’s exactly what the terms of the AT1 bonds allowed. I guess if you’re Switzerland you get to play that card one time so you might as well make it good.

Very loose correlation in my experience. Plenty of hourly folks out there if you prefer that route. I’ve always wondered, what happens if there is a creditor claim that has to get litigated for years? Is that within the flat fee?

On the other hand, if you just need someone to talk to about your life, then maybe a flat fee lawyer ain’t so bad. I’ve got too many clients that use me as a therapist as it is. If I didn’t charge by the hour I’d be hearing from them non stop.

Probate lawyer here. Never charged anyone a flat fee, nor do I recall anyone asking for that. To me, that would necessarily involve either overcharging or undercharging almost every single client, and I want to do neither. Would feel guilty of the former and resentful of the latter. I think a flat fee would also make me feel pressure to cut corners to get the most for my time as possible, whereas with hourly I simply ask myself if the cost-benefit justifies whatever particular action I’m taking at the time. If yes, I do it (unless the client objects). If no, I don’t (unless the client wants to anyway and it isn’t unethical).

More than anyone wants to know I’m sure.

Sibling took $250k on $500M? One-half of one-tenth of one percent? You should write your sibling a thank you note for being such a modest crook.

But if you want a small parting gift, it might not hurt to get a lawyer that manages to keep a functional staff and computer system, as those attorneys tend to obtain higher settlement offers from their peers, particularly peers that represent clients with in excess of $100M. Just one letter from from the new guy or gal might have some good ROI.

Or if the evidence really is clear, you might be able to get the authorities interested and let your sibling hash it out with them.

I’ve wondered about using BNDX for up to 50% of bonds and the rest US, including whatever amount you want in inflation protected holdings.

I.e., 50% TIPS 50% BNDX, or 25% TIPS 25% IEF 50% BNDX, or 75% TIPS 25% BNDX

But lately I’ve been about 40% Ibonds 40% VMFXX 5% IEF 5% BNDX. Thinking terminal rate may go higher than expected so lighter on the nominals.

Until now I had thought it made sense to be more conservative on the 529 so as not to have to lock-in possible losses when spending on education, but I think that is wrong after working through a simple example: Let’s say college will cost $100k for your only child and you have $100k each in a 529 and taxable account. You also want an overall allocation of 50/50 and there is a 50% reduction in stocks right before you need to spend the 529. With a balanced allocation, each account falls to $75k and so you have to pull $25k from taxable for college, dropping it to $50k, or $25k each in stocks and fixed income to maintain the allocation. With all stocks in taxable and all fixed income in 529, the 529 doesn’t drop and pays for college, but your...

I can’t recommend any online company since they themselves refuse to stand by their products in the terms of service. However, there is one website that at least has the decency not to charge you for giving you the means of potentially blowing up your estate: freewill.com (to my knowledge it’s not sponsored by the Baptists)

I like to name a trust as beneficiary, or contingent beneficiary after the spouse: 1) naming “my children, per stripes” arguably means all children (your primary beneficiary class) have to die before any grandchildren would take. “My issue, per stripes” is what people should use instead. 2) even if you get that right, if a grandchild ultimately does take and they are under 18 then a conservativorship will likely be need at a greater expense than a basic trust. 3) it’s often not ideal for people to take as early as 18. 4) the trust can/should include a back up special needs trust in case any beneficiaries are receiving needs based govt benefits 5) if you want to change your overall estate plan generally then it means a single change to your ...

-1031
-CRUT
-structured installment sale
-you don’t have to go 100% with any of these if you need some money out of it

Thank you! I am at Ally Invest, which no longer has a mutual fund commission. Would that make a difference? I assume there’s no separate Vanguard fee to get in or out; just the general expense ratio.

I’m new to these types of funds so please forgive the novice/redundant question, but is it fair to say that VMFXX is generally as good as anything in this class for a tax deferred IRA?

And are there any recommendations for taxable account if your state tax rate is 6.5% and you didn’t have to want to follow rate fluctuations? My Fed marginal rate is 24% so I’m pretty sure a municipal fund isn’t called for.

I guess I’m different than many. Never want to fully retire; maybe part time at 60 when kids are out the house.

Would like to break $10M net worth just because, and give a significant chunk away. Don’t really care what it’s worth in today’s dollars.

I’m really not far down the road for my age, but saving six figures per year at this point, which should increase for however long I work full time. Not to mention pulling what I have scraped together from under the mattress and into a 60/40 type plan thanks to Bogleheads!

If the trust sells its assets and dissolves in the same tax year then the taxable gain is passed out to the beneficiaries. Even still, it’s better to distribute in kind so each beneficiary can decide if and when to sell for themselves.

I’d be interested in the Vanguard person’s definition of legacy planning. Sounds like estate planning but for more self-important clientele and/or those that haven’t accepted that they are actually going to die one day.

There once was a man from Nantucket
Who asked “dollar cost avg or lump it?”
The reply came with glee, “To the Wiki with thee!”
“Your question, we already hath thunk it.”

Based on what you said she’s below the personal federal filing threshold so no 1040 for 2022.

The $600 exemption is for estates, but it is just $100 for complex trusts (such as one that pays out corpus). However, you can make a “645 election” to treat the rev trust as part of the estate for tax purposes, and not have to file a 1041 for year end 12/31/22 assuming no additional income for the estate.

Ideally, the contingent beneficiary is a trust for the benefit of younger people for the following reasons:
-no need for court action to appoint conservator if under 18
-funds can be held longer than 18
-changes to beneficiary class (death or new members) can be planned for in trust and don’t disrupt plan
-intentional changes to estate plan don’t require changing multiple beneficiary designations, but just the trust.
-keeps funds out of probate in event of no named beneficiaries remain. I.e., trust names additional contingent beneficiaries.

Was the lawyer disbarred before you signed the documents? If so and there’s no one else at the firm to supervise the execution you might be able to put a claim for refund in with the state bar association if they have a fund for those types of situations.

Otherwise, I’m not sure there’s much correlation between a lawyer’s work product on a relatively standard plan and their propensity to misappropriate funds due to addiction and whatnot. But, sure, have someone review the docs if you think they might not be competent either.

Triple F.A.T. Goose. Just like John Pierpont Morgan used to wear.

Could you not get a home equity line set up and then pull from that as a “bridge loan” for new home purchase if desired? Same as to 401k loan.

One question would be whether mortgage underwriters flag that for any reason, though I’m not sure why they would care.

Forgive me if this isn’t appropriate for this forum, but I just have to express dismay at how difficult it is to keep up with the myriad of retirement plans and the ever-changing rules related to those numerous plans. There is a certain point where complexity undermines the purposes being sought, and I think we are well past that point. I challenge anyone to read Mr Levine’s very good summary and tell me they disagree. And if that doesn’t convince you, try reading the IRC 409 and its regulations.

But kudos to people like Mr Levine for trying to make sense of this topic.

Birth certificate.

What do I win?

Estate lawyer here. My invoices list everything we do in 1/10th hour increments. You are entitled to ask for the same or find a different lawyer is they prefer not to provide that. Seems like they’d have to be calculating your invoice to this point on some similar basis even if it’s quarter hours.

bsteiner wrote: ↑Wed Dec 21, 2022 9:33 pm

Joey Jo Jo Jr wrote: ↑Wed Dec 21, 2022 9:11 pm A will lists your beneficiaries and many (all?) states also require an inventory of probate assets. You can be assured those filings will one day be searchable online and in some counties they are already. ...

The inventory in New York isn't very detailed: https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/FOR ... s/IofA.pdf. It's also not a public document.

If the original poster moves to Florida, the inventory isn't a public document there.

That’s good to know. However, there’s also the possibility that a state’s law gets changed in favor of open public records, or that the state otherwise sells certain data to raise revenue (it has been done before).

A will lists your beneficiaries and many (all?) states also require an inventory of probate assets. You can be assured those filings will one day be searchable online and in some counties they are already. You and your beneficiaries may not care about that but I have some clients that would rather keep their business out of the streets so to speak.

Oh, another possible benefit of Rev trusts is that it can discourage creditor claims if you don’t have to file for probate. Not all claims are necessarily legit.

Why not ask your planner what the cost difference is between a new will versus a revocable trust (with pour-over will) assuming the same dispositive provisions that you would have in a will alone? For me, the prep time isn’t much different and therefore the bill isn’t much different because I charge by the hour. Honestly sometimes it takes me longer to explain the differences to an inquisitive client than it does for me to prepare the more functional plan (Rev trust with pour over), so I’ve been contemplating whether I ought to even offer regular wills any more. Deeds and assignments to trust do cost a little more, but that also means the client is more likely to realize value by those assets avoiding probate at death. Note, be especially w...

I’ll propose a 4th and 5th to the list above: 4) biz owners are more likely to hire an advisor because they tend to have significantly more money if successful and are already used relying on, and delegating to, the specialization of labor in order to squeeze out efficiency. 5) Bogleheads, I think, tend to enjoy getting into the weeds on issues that have relatively minor financial impact. Biz owners, I think, are more big picture thinkers and/or focus on things that have the most impact like growing revenue 20%. I really had assumed there were more Boglehead small business owners than there appear to be from this thread so far, but maybe it makes sense after thinking about it. I’m a part owner of a small law firm, “owning” the equivalent of...

I’m out of my league here and curious what others might point to, but the breakeven inflation rate is higher than trend but that probably makes sense unless and until the recent bout of inflation is fully squashed: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/T10YIE So to me no obvious disparity between TIPS and nominals unless maybe you think a recession is imminent. However, another consideration is there might be more to lose by unexpected inflation than there is unexpected disinflation. One thing that might give you comfort as to either holding is that the real rate of interest is much higher than trend: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/REAINTRATREARAT10Y However, that apparently dropped pretty fast over the last month: https://www.multpl.com/1...

Whoever would have gotten the missing stuff might be able to get the trustee to pay them the estimated value. And if the stuff constituted specific bequests then the remainder beneficiary could arguably be on the hook to the extent the trustee is not. If the remainder beneficiary is the charity it might not put up that much resistance either. Of course whoever pays (if anyone) could try to go after the perpetrator, but that shouldn’t be the beneficiary’s problem.

If there is enough juice to squeeze you might consider whether you can create a separate trust share (such as through decanting) that allows the trustee to hold all tax exempt income in one of the trusts and taxable income in the other. Arguably this could be subject to one of the tax avoidance doctrines (or maybe some reg I don’t know of), so consider whether differentiating some of the trust terms might help.

Could the estate pay enough fiduciary and professional fees in the same year as an offset?

Thought experiment towards a philosophical construct for Bogleheadian investing:

1) when it comes down to it as far as we can demonstrate through generally accepted historical evidence, might is right
2) publicly traded corporations are the mightiest force in the world today (legal control of resources, effective control of labor, significant influence over governments, etc).
3) ergo, own as much of the publicly traded corporations as you can
4) if you can’t stomach/afford the valuation swings, it’s also okay to help finance the United States for a fixed return and simultaneously help promote stability for the publicly traded corporations

Do our investment portfolios really exist? We can’t know for certain, but I think Bogleheads have to proceed on the assumption that they do for there to be any basis for further inquiry in the matter.

Just kidding, but I’m having a hard time thinking of truly philosophical lines of inquiry unless you get into Karl Marx type territory like the merits/problems of private ownership of property. Or maybe “philosophy” here is being used in the looser sense of one’s view on those principles which help achieve a certain end. E.g., my philosophy on retirement planning is to max out tax advantaged accounts.

I like “move the needle” as a general phrase. It’s a good euphemism for telling people that they are wasting their time on something.

The one I hate is “we are playing phone tag”, especially when left as the second message. No, you bugging me while I’m too busy to take your call and then not picking up when I take the time to return your call is not actually a game that I am playing.

There are a nontrivial amount of people that leave retirement account assets to a spouse in trust, even thought a rollover is more tax efficient, because they don’t want the spouse to have complete control of the funds (usually where there are children from a prior marriage).

So while the attorney’s advice to do the rollover is well taken, I don’t see why he or she’s can’t add language for a possible spousal retirement account trust if you want that and are willing to pay a little more for that insertion.

It’s attorney-client privileged info. As I tell people, they can fill out the questionnaire before the meeting to streamline the process and hold me accountable for generating the appropriate estate plan, or they can spend extra billable time for me to go over the same stuff in the initial consultation and not necessarily get your facts down correctly depending on what you happen to remember. Honestly I’m good either way. The customer is always right. Some customers just happen get a better work product than others.

You don’t technically even have to spend the 529 money on education, at least not in my state. And the penalty only applies to the gains, so I’m sure there are less scrupulous people than you and me shuffling money in and out to get a state tax deduction that exceeds the penalties. And I don’t even think that would be illegal; just kind of crummy. But for skipping out on taxes in a completely tax and popular opinion favored manner, nothing beats dying with appreciated assets but under the estate tax exemption. The great American upper middle class subsidy. And another one people are well aware of is flipping your residence every time you reach $250k in appreciation (double if MFJ). One that less people may realize and makes zero sense (to m...

Placeholder, probably not too much without seeing the document for possible issues that come to mind reading it: -do you specify what happens if a sibling predeceases? E.g., to their issue or your other living siblings -do you have a backup trust for younger people if funds could go to lower generations -do you have a back up supplemental needs trust if any beneficiary is receiving needs based benefits -is there any other reason to leave assets in further trust. E.g., possibly problems with spouse/creditors/substance abuse or a high risk profession -have you actually funded the trust and/or coordinated your beneficiary designations to fit your plan -do you have a pour-over will (I recently had an estate client where the decedent bought a Su...

1) I think the lack of mandatory distributions is what makes the trust not QTIPable. It’s conceivable that the beneficiary’s power to withdraw income satisfies that part of IRC 2056(b)(7), but that’s not anything I’ve heard of or looked into, and I doubt it is the case. 2) again could be wrong, but I don’t think the modification of the trust could make this QTIP eligible retroactively. 3) modify/decant the trust so that the beneficiary has the power to appoint the trust assets at his death to his estate, his creditors, or the creditors of his estate (a general power of appointment), with the expectation, though no guarantee, that it would not be exercised. Note that this causes the assets to be included in both estates, but I’m assuming you...

That would usually not include dynasty trust/GST planning. Just an asset protection trust for the direct heirs (hat tip to BSteiner for convincing me to recommend that as standard). My MSA is only 800k something. Probably LCOL if you only look at MSAs. Others charge more than me, but I actually feel good about knowing I provide good value.

Yeah not as many good lawyers would agree to a limited engagement like that, but I don’t mind doing that kind of thing myself. It’s always interesting to see what other people have in place.

Attorneys who aren’t experts in trusts are perfectly capable of drafting a will in revocable trust format. They may even know enough about real estate law to transfer your assets into it so as to avoid probate. However, transferring your assets takes time and will cost more money. You’re certainly not getting such a service for less than 3,000 and that’s pretty darn inexpensive. Rates are higher and lower depending on location, but the trust experts are located where the money is. I’m a specialist in my state and usually do revocable trusts with deeds and continuing trusts for heirs for under $3k. Often my fee is less than what the client will save in probate and legal fees if they dropped dead the next day, not to mention tax savings and ...

Depending on state law, some or all of the nonprobate assets may not be recoverable for payment of estate expenses. If you want to know the right answer get the advice of a lawyer in your state that knows their stuff because it’s a topic that run of the mill probate lawyers might not know since they typically don’t get hired by insolvent estates.

Property taxes are a carrying cost. No one is making the one beneficiary “carry” the house into the future. Even if you distributed the house to that beneficiary against his or her will, the beneficiary still has the choice to sell it.

BY the way, I don’t even think the uniform probate code requires the administrator to consider the amount of appreciation when equitably distributing assets (at least it doesn’t in my state) which I’ve always thought was a bad rule.

I’ve never understood why someone didn’t start a nonprofit version of the various social media companies that ensured privacy and put the vampires out of business. Are the IP limitations that difficult to overcome? There have been many such attempts. Why do you assume it would be automatically successful? They have all failed for a reason. The people have spoken: they don't value privacy and most aren't willing to pay even $1 for it. Didn’t realize that. I would have thought, by now, there would be enough people interested in a nonprofit social media solution to get it going if there were reasonable options. I’m sure inertia is an issue for active users, but this stuff seems pretty fickle from my outsider perspective, so maybe there’s a ch...

I’ve never understood why someone didn’t start a nonprofit version of the various social media companies that ensured privacy and put the vampires out of business. Are the IP limitations that difficult to overcome?

Redneck bank? You’re going to have to be more specific.