Ashley Flotte’s Legal Blog

You may have heard of a “QPRT” (often pronounced “cue-pert”) in the context of estate planning, but not fully understood its meaning. Quite simply, QPRT stands for “Qualified Personal Residence Trust,” and is a planning tool utilized for the lifetime gifting of a personal residence for gift tax planning purposes.
Just as with a GRAT [...]

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As you all no doubt recognize, we are very fortunate to live in America. We as a nation have it all: a free democratic society… protections of our Constitution… baseball and apple pie… Michael Phelps.
 
There are also great advantages to being a U.S. resident and citizen from an estate planning perspective. For example, U.S. [...]

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GRATs are increasingly popular among those wishing to implement lifetime gifting strategies. GRATS, or Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, are vehicles designed to minimize gift tax liability in the transfer of estate assets to future generations. To initiate a GRAT, a trust is created that will remain in existence for a certain period of time, with a [...]

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So you’ve heard that using a bypass trust in your estate plan can be a great way to save wealth transfer taxes in an estate that exceeds the current exemption amount. What happens, though, if you currently exceed the $2 million threshold but anticipate a reduction in your estate down the road? And what, on [...]

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If you already have your will in place, congratulations on having the foresight and taking the responsibility to relieve your loved ones of a significant burden down the road. Although you’ve taken a great step in handling your affairs, you shouldn’t revel in that peace of mind indefinitely. Just as one will doesn’t fit all, [...]

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