Section 8: Estate and Wealth Transfer Flashcards
Qualifying strategies to gift to minors using annual exclusion
529 plan
2503(B)
2503(C) -age 21
UGMA & UTMA to age 26
What is a future interest?
Donee must wait to use the gift- “remainder interest”
Income can be accumulated for later distribution
non-income producing property work well here
Sprinkle or spray provision
What are the best type of property to keep? (not gift)
-Appreciated property that will be sold after death
-property that would result in a loss if sold- sell property and claim loss
-Depreciating income property
Best types of property to gift
Property appreciating w/ L-T appreciation value
Property w/ low gift tax value and potentially high estate tax value
Income producing property when moved to lower bracket
Appreciated property that will be sold if donee is in low tax bracket
GST Tax Annual Exclusion
Direct present interest only gifts for up to annual exclusion amount
Transfer to trust with one skip person
e.g. no multiple skip person trusts or sprinkle or spray provisions
What is a qualified disclaimer?
Satisfied statutory code in the internal revenue code
Refusal to accept assets- disclaimed property transfers to another recipient or trust
Must be made in writing w/ in 9 months- can’t accept any interest in the disclaimed property- can be at death or intervivos
When could the marital deduction not be available?
Spouse gets limited POA over property or spouse receives (TIP) terminal interest property
QTIP trust is an exception
Revocable Trust Vs Irrevocable considering estate inclusion
Revocable- always included
Irrevocable- no included unless ability is retained to distribute income or principle, accumulate trust income, change genes, use trust assets to discharge legal obligations
What is the 5 & 5 power?
Bene can w/d with out any approval $5,000 or 5% of corpus each year
Fail safe if trustee is not generous
If not exercised in that year the 5% or $5k is part of your gross estate
What is the AVD?
Alternate Valuation Date
6 months after debt- regarding taxable estate only- elected by the estate
e.g. 2022 good year to use since market went down
What are the power of attorney options?
Non-durable- ceases at principal’s incapacity
Durable POA- agent can act before and after incapacitation
Springing durable POA- an agent can act only when incompetency is declared- often requires to doctors to attest
What is a cohabitation agreement?
When marriage is not an option, it provides a similar function to a prenuptial agreement
Addresses:
treatment of income, property brought to relationship and debts, how different debts should be handled during the relationship, how expenses are shared, property division if relationship ends, arbitration agreement
What is a marital share or “A trust”?
Trust is established for spouse, takes advantage of the unlimited marital deduction, included in gross estate of surviving spouse at death
What is a credit shelter trust or “B trust”?
Trust is established for a spouse
Designed to preserve and maximize gift tax exemption- when spouse dies it passes directly to the surviving spouse exempt from gift and estate taxes, when surviving spouse dies, trust not included in their estate
What is a Grantor Retained Income Trust?
This was a popular strategy pre-1990
Now typically used for R/E and artwork
bene can be non-family- use for period of years then transfer- gift gets discounted for future value- no annual exclusion since it is a future interest gift, all growth passes tax free between initial funding and end of term
What are some community property estate related considerations?
1/2 of all CP assets included in spouses gross estate
Marital deduction available to offset the decedents estate tax if property bequeathed to surviving spouse
Entire value of property gets stepped up basis - this is different then Non-community property states where they get 1/2 step up in basis
What are the “powers of appointment” types?
General Powers, special or limited powers, 5-5 powers (often used in crummy trusts)
Who has legal ownership of assets in a trust?
Trustee
Even when not the beneficiary- rationale is the fiduciary duty
Trustee is most accurate although grantors and settlors can be the trustee
Which trust could be used as an estate freezing strategy?
Grantor Retained Annuity Trust- GRAT
Optimal for transferring assets with high potential for appreciation and when interest rates are low
What are the advantages of a revocable living trusts?
-reduces cost and time delays by avoiding probate
-maintains confidentiality by avoiding public filing
-provides for management of grantors assets upon disablity
What is a QPRT?
qualified personal residence trust
Transfer a tax payers home out of an estate- retains right to live in it rent free for a period of time and pay normal expenses, then rents from the trust, freezes the valuation- rent free period reduces valuation, grantor pays rent- remainderman pay the income taxes
What are the grantor retained trust options?
GRAT- grantor retained annuity trust
GRIT- grantor retained income trust
GRUT- grantor retained unitrust (least common and least efficient in reducing estate)
*if grantor fails to outlive the terms of the trust it is pulled back into the estate
What is a skip person?
Two or more generations below- can be a skip person trust- can also be imposed via disclaimer
What is the Predeceased parent rule?
If parents pre-decease then all lineal decendents move up one generation for GST purposes
How are unrelated persons handled as it relates to GST tax transfer purposes?
Unrelated person within 12.5 years of age are considered the same generation, the succeeding generations go in 25 year increments
What is the annual exclusion for a non-US spouse?
2018- $152k
Better option is gift annually as opposed to QDOT- best option is to become a US citizen to get full unlimited marital deduction
What is a QDOT?
qualified domestic trust
Used if surviving spouse is not a US citizen
Meets requirements for estate tax marital deduction for transfers made to the trust
QDOT requirements: trustee must be US citizen or bank or trust w/ US presence, non-US citizen must get all income for life, trustee has right to with-hold all taxes related to income and estate, executor must elect QTIPq
What are the Terminable Interest Property exceptions?
-spouse must live 6 months
-life insurance proceeds or annuity payments to surviving spouse w/ general POA over payments
-testamentary charitable remainder trust that pays surviving spouse income for life
Does the general power of appointment qualify for the marital deduction?
Yes- since it allows for unrestricted access to the property including creditors
What is required to satisfy the QTIP election?
-Property passes directly to the spouse
-Receives qualified income interest for life
-decedents executor makes irrevocable election on estate tax return
-Qualified income: spouse must be entitled to all income, distributed at least annually (no accumulation), spouse is only bene, remaining property will be included in spouses gross estate
What is an intentionally defective grantor trust?
If you own assets expected to appreciate significantly e.g. new biz venture or property down in value- this amplifies potential to pass growth in a tax efficient manner
Fund w/ approx 10% of value of the trust, take back an interest bearing note
What is a SLAT?
Spousal lifetime access trust- dynasty type trust
Should be funded with separate property (not community property)
Can be designed as a SLAT with dynasty features so spouse has access while accomplishing GST objectives- Delaware has favorable laws for this
What are the incidents of ownership?
Right to…
change or name beneficiary, cash value, receive dividends, borrow or make w/d, pledge as collateral, right to dispose any of these
If any of these rights are retained, can pull D/B back into gross estate
What is the three year rule regarding life insurance?
If owner transfers policy to a new owner and insured dies within three years the d/b must be included in the insured’s gross estate- does not apply if owner is not the insured
Code section 2035