March 2010

Announcing the KYEstates Estate Tax Forecasting Contest

KYEstates readers, do you miss the halcyon days of 2003, when Howard Dean told us that “you have the power“? We can’t bring those days back, but we are happy to report that in 2010: You have the power…to let your own voice be heard about what is going to happen with the estate tax. [...]

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House Passes Bill on 10-Year GRAT Terms; Craziest Probate Case of the Year?

As other T&E bloggers have capably noted (e.g., Gary Beyer here and Hani Sarji here), the House passed H.R. 4849 (the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act of 2010) on March 24. The vote was 246-178 in favor of the bill (see the full report on the vote from the New York Times here). KYEstates alerted [...]

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KYEstates Announces The “Glom On” Prizewinner; Kentucky Enacts UPMIFA

KYEstates issued a high-stakes challenge here in our discussion of the taxpayer FLP win in Estate of Petter v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo. 2009-280, 2009 WL 4598137 (U.S. Tax Ct. 2009).  We said: Count not your day a loss: you have now read the phrase glommed onto in a Federal court’s opinion.  Find that phrase in another [...]

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In re Chilton – Bad News for Creditor Protection for Inherited IRAs

As previously discussed in this post, KYEstates strives to provide fair and balanced coverage, so when we are biased, we will let you know.  To that end, we previously warned readers that we are biased in favor of the taxpayer.  (Apparently, when we made this (not-so-shocking) disclosure, the IRS noticed, because shortly afterwards we started [...]

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Mr. Filburn, Meet Mr. Attlee – Taxes, The Health Care Bill, and You

Unless you are a truly basketball-crazed KYEstates reader, by now you are well aware that the Health Care Bill passed the House last night.  This legislation is significant, and that is an understatement. Both supporters and detractors of the bill might see this as America’s analogue to July 5, 1948, when the Attlee Cabinet’s National [...]

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Timmberrr…Another Taxpayer FLP Win!

At KYEstates, we don’t want to hex ourselves, or taxpayers, but the fact is that we’re on a little bit of an FLP roll here and here. The good news for taxpayers continues with Estate of Shurtz, T.C. Memo. 2010-21 (Feb. 3, 2010). Even though the taxpayer showed up at the Tax Court with mixed [...]

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A Big News Day: Section 7520 Rate Stays Put, 10 Year GRAT Legislation, Gov. Beshear Signs HB 188!

KYEstates readers – this was a big day in the world of T&E.  Perhaps not epochal, but at least big. 1) Good news for procrastinators: although interest rates may be headed up, for April, AFRs are virtually unchanged from March levels, and the section 7520 rate has not budged.  For details, see Rev. Rul. 2010-11 [...]

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If Your Bank Trustee Fails, What Happens To Your Trust Account?

A recent post on The Trust Advisor Blog (courtesy of Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog) discusses this regrettably timely question: “What happens to trust accounts held by a bank fiduciary when the bank fails?” The good news is that no federally insured financial institution with the legal power to operate as a trust company [...]

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Who Will Read The 706 You File?

In any litigation matter, key questions include: “What’s discoverable?  What’s privileged?  What will the bad guys be able to find out?”  These same questions present in probate litigation and estate planning for potentially contested administrations.  If a client and the client’s advisors are planning for a contested administration, one option is to shift assets from [...]

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Forecasting the Fate of the Estate Tax

Today KYEstates is one month old!  The site has grown quickly, along with readership in the T&E Community and elsewhere — thank you, readers!  It’s a Friday in early springtime, so it’s already a good day.  Let’s make it even better, shall we, with a quick review of recent reports on the status of the estate [...]

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