Estate Planning (12%) Flashcards
What is fee simple ownership?
Absolute ownership and control by one individual in life and in death.
What is a Totten Trust?
It is essentailly the same thing as a Pay on Death POD account at a Bank.
What happends to property acquired when moving from a common law state to a community property state?
The character of property acquired while living in common-law state is not changed when they move to community property state.
What happnes to property when moving from a community property state to a common law state?
- The character of property acquired while living in a community property state is not changed when they move to a common law state regardless of title
- full step-up in basis is lost if property divided
Non-community Property Interest
- Income earned by spouses prior to marriage
- Property received as a gift by one spouse
- Property inherited by one spouse
- Interest earned on separate assets held by one spouse as a sole owner
Community Property
- Ownership can only be held by a husband and wife
- Each spouse has 1/2 interest in most property acquired during marriage regardless of title.
- Property controlled by terms of the will.
- Does not Avoid Probate
- Full value of qualified spousal property held gets a Full step up in basis, not 1/2 like other JTWROS, TIE, etc.
Joint Tenancy with Rights of Survivorship
(JTWROS)
- Property can be held by husband and wife, parent and child or children, siblings and business partners
- Control, ownership and enjoyment shared equally by all joint tenants
- Upon death of each tenant, property immediately passes to surviving joint tenants in equal shares.
- Property NOT controlled by terms of the will
- Avoids probate
- Only one-half the value of qualified spousal property held gets a step up in basis
Tenancy by the Entirety
- Ownership can only be held by a husband and wife
- Transfer of property can only occur with the mutual consent of both parties
- In most states, property is protected from the claims of each spouse’s separate creditors, but NOT protected from the claims of both spouse’s joint creditors
- Avoids probate
- Only one-half the value of qualified spousal property held gets a step up in basis
Tenancy in Common
- Two or more owners each own an undivided interest in the property
- Any income is distributed according to each owner’s respective share in the property
- Owners are free to transfer their respective share of the property to other individuals
- Ownership stake goes through probate upon death
- TIC property receives a step up in basis depending on the ownership interest percentage of the decedent.
Assets NOT subject to probate
- Property conveyed by deeds of title (IRA)
- Life Insurance
- Pension benefits
- Property held by joint tenancy with rights of survivorship
- Property held by tenancy by entirety
- Government savings bond - co-ownership
- Revocable living trusts
- Irrevocable living trust (trust must be funded during grantor’s lifetime to avoid probate at death)
- Payable on death accounts (PODs)
- Transfer on death accounts (TODs)
- Totten trust
- Beneficiary deed designing a bene to take title upon death of grantor
Assets subject to probate
- “Singly” owned assets
- Tenancy in Common (TIC)
- Community Property (CP)
- Assets where the beneficiary is the “estate of the insured”
- Assets not in Will Substitute
Assets Included in the Gross Estate
Probate Estate Assets:
- Individually owned real estate, including fractional interests, such as TIC and CP.
- Individually owned stocks and bonds, including closely held corporate shares
- Individually owned cash, bank accounts, certificates of deposit, notes, etc.
- Individually owned miscellaneous items such as race horses, antiques, autos, household furniture, limited partnership interests, etc.
Non-Probate Estate Assets:
- Insurance on decedent’s life owned by decedent (“owned” means any incident of ownership) at death
- Jointly owned property (with survivorship rights like JTWROS, Tenants By Entirety)
- Property includible in gross estate under IRC Sections 2035-2038 (the transfer sections) 3-year gross-up on gift taxes paid (but NOT GST taxes paid)
- General powers of appointment held by decedent at death
- Survivorship benefits of pensions and annuities owned by decedent.
- Beneficiary is the estate.
Federal Estate Tax Calculation Worksheet
- (1) Decedent’s Total gross Estate $
- (2) Subtract deductions:
- (a) Funeral and administrative expenses
- (b) Debts of decedent, mortgages, and liens
- (c) Theft and casualty losses
- Equals adjusted gross estate
- (d) Marital deduction
- (e) State death taxes actually paid
- (f) Charitable deduction
- Equals taxable estate
- (3) Add adjusted taxable gifts
- Equals tax base
- (4) Compute tentative tax using the transfer tax table
- (a) Lower bracket amount
- (b) Tax on lower bracket amount
- (c) Excess over bracket amount
- (d) Tax rate on excess _______%
- (e) Tax on bracket excess amount
- Equals total tentative tax (4(e) + 4(b))
- (5) Subtract credits:
- (a) Gift taxes payable on post 1976 gifts
- (b) Applicable credit amount
- (c) Credit for tax on prior transfers
- Equals net estate tax due
AGE (calculated by F uck D C)
Funeral & Admin
Debts, mortgage and other liens
Casualty and Theft losses
= Adjusted Gross Estate
Taxable Esate (calculated by M ichigan S outh C arolina Gamecocks)
Marital Deduction
State Taxes Paid
Charitable Deduction
= Taxable Estate
Life Insurance Added to the Estate
- Proceeds are paid to the executor of the decedent’s estate
- Decedent at death possesses an incident of ownership in the policy
- Decedent transferred a policy with an incident of ownership within 3 year of death
Valuation of a Gift
- The value of a gift for gift tax purposes is its fair market value (FMV) at the date of gift.
Basis of a Gift
- If FMV on the date of gift is greater than the donor’s adjusted basis, use the donor’s adjusted basis.
- If FMV of the gift is less than the donor’s basis, use the chart below:
Client’s subtituted basis $2,013,000 Gain
between $2,013,000 and no gain or loss
$1,513,000
_________________
FMV date of gift $1,513,000 Loss
Deductible Gifts
(not taxable gifts)
also called exempt gifts or
qualified transfer
- Gifts to a spouse, provided they are not a terminal interest
- Gifts to qualified charities
- Qualified payment in any amount made directly to an educational institution for tuition
- Qualified payment in any amount made directly to a medical care provider on behalf of any individual
- Gifts to American political parties
Summary of rules regarding
gifts and the donor’s estate
- Generally, gifts given are simply “taxable gifts” to the extent such gifts exceed the annual exclusion.
- Taxable gifts are added to the taxable estate
- Gift taxes paid (or payable) are generally allowed as credit against the tentative tax
- Gift taxes paid on any gifts within three years of death are added to the gross estate
Powers of Attorney
Traditional, non-durable power of attorney - Power ceases when the principal is no longer legally competent
Durable power of attorney - Authority of agent continues when principal become incompetent
Springing durable power of attorney - Main strength is the agent has no authority over the principal’s assets until incompetency.
What is a Power of Appointment?
A power of appointment is a power to dispose of property.
The power can be as broad or limited as the creator desires depending on whether the creator chooses to give general power of appointment or special powers of appointment.
A power of appointment can also be presently exercised or postponed until a specified event occurs or a condition is met.
Power of Appointment
(Trusts)
- Special Power - Holder of power is exercisable only with the consent of the creator of the power or a person having a substantial adverse interest
- Ascertainable standard - Holder of power can only exercise the power related to health, education, maintenance or support (HEMS)
- General Power - Holder of powere may exercise the power in any manner he/she wishes
Gift and Estate Tax Implications
(General Power)
Gift Tax Implications (General Power)
- Exercised, released or lapsed - taxed
- Lapsed with a “5 or 5” power - not taxed
Estate Tax Implications (General Power)
- Exercised, released or lapsed - taxed
- Exercised, released or lapsed with a “5 or 5” power - greater of the “5 or 5” is taxed
“5 or 5” Power
- Property subject to a general power will be included in a donee decedent’s estate (or considered a taxable gift” only to the extent that the property exceeds the greater of:
- $5,000 or
- 5% of the total value of the fund subject to the power as measured at the time of lapse
Grantor Trust Rules
(Tainted / Defective Trusts)
Income Tax & Estate
- Trust may be defective / tainted for Income Tax and Estate Tax purposes if the grantor retains:
- A right to income or the right to use/enjoy trust property (beneficial enjoyment)
- A reversionary interest exceeding 5% (retained interest)
Elements of a Trust
- In order for a trust to exist, there must be property (also known as principal, re, or corpus)
- There must be a grantor. This is any person who transfers property to and dictates the terms of a trust.
- There must be a trustee who received legal title to the property placed in the trust, and who generally manages and distributes income according to the terms of a formal written agreement (trust instrument).
- There must be a beneficiary who has equitable title to the property.
- The grantor and trustee must be legally competent.
Simple vs. Complex Trusts
- Simple trusts (2503(b), Marital, QTIP) are considered merely a “conduit” for forwarding income to the beneficiaries (pass-through)
- Complex trusts (2503(c)), are separate tax entities and taxed as such if it meets two requirements:
- It is irrevocable, and the grantor has not retained any control
- Income is accumulated
Crummey Trust
- Irrevocable trust with demand rights to make it a present interest gift
- Demand right given to a minor through his/her guardian
- Beneficiary has temporary right to demand a withdrawal from the trust that is the lesser of the amount of the annual gift exclusion or the value of the gift transferred
The Crummey power, named after a taxpayer from the landmark tax case in 1968, is an often-used trust provision that allows a gift that would otherwise be a future interest gift to be treated as a present interest gift, and thus be eligible for the annual gift tax exclusion.
Nonmarital “B” Trust
(Decedent, Family, Bypass, Credit Shelter, Unified Credit Shelter)
- Property transferred to the trust at the time of the decedent’s death
- Can be structured to provide a stream of income to surviving spouse or other individuals
- Decedent has postmortem control
What are the other names of the B Trust?
- Decedents Trust
- Family Trust
- Bypass Trust
- Credit Shelter Trust
- Unified Credit Shelter Trust
QTIP “C” Trust
(Current Income Trust)
- Provides surviving spouse with a stream of income for life, but decedent has postmortem control of trust property
- Property qualifies for marital deduction
- Mainly used for second marriages
- Key word for QTIP - LAME
- Lifetime income for the spouse
- Annual payments to spouse
- Mandatory payments to spouse
- Exclusively for spouse