Kentucky Estates: articles on trusts and estates in culture
Youth. A time when the average person might say (as Ferris Bueller did 28 years ago): “I don’t believe in isms. I believe in Me.” Usually putting things off works out, but if a young person is prudent (or has family members around them who are prudent), a Will may be one thing that’s unwise […]
We hope this mini-series on the knotty estate planning issues presenting in the (fictional) later lives of the Drapers convinced you that blended families often face much greater risks to relationships, harmony, and the orderly flow of wealth than they might first realize. Elective share statutes are one of the main unrealized dangers. In part […]
When a married couple doesn’t have the same beneficiaries in each of their estate plans, elective share statutes make it an unstable situation, as we began to see in part 1 — which ended with the fictional, widowed Megan Draper realizing that Don’s will had left her a lot of issues to consider. Let’s introduce […]
For many decades, when the estate tax exemption was much lower, a common perception was that estate planning centered on tax planning, reduction, and avoidance. This was never quite true: estate planning was always about the interaction between families, taxes, money, and (sometimes) the family business. Nonetheless, as the “taxes” element fades a little, the […]
Our previous post on per stirpes and per capita discussed a case study for Don and Betty Draper’s dysfunctional and very entertaining fictional family. Per stirpes or per capita distributions are important decisions, though, at almost all levels of wealth – certainly not only the “rich and famous”, but also the “modest and hardworking.” Marion […]
“Per capita” and “per stirpes” aren’t just Latin phrases estate planning attorneys use to try to look smart. They can produce very different results for the flow of family assets. Understanding the difference between the two approaches in an estate plan, and choosing the right one for your family’s situation, can avoid unpleasant and expensive […]
I am excited to share the news that I am joining PNC Wealth Management on December 28, 2010 as a Senior Wealth Planner in their Louisville office. My colleagues at PNC will include Chris Staples, Jim Turner, and Melanie McCoy, who are well known in Kentucky’s T&E Community. PNC’s Wealth Planning Group is led by […]
Mad Men Season 4 has ended, and we’re all trying to evaluate whether or not Megan is a good idea. That’s the truly significant question, but it’s a long time until Season 5 begins, which means that the T&E Community needs to get back to business as usual, even on a Sunday night like this […]
You can tell your readers care about you when for four weeks you don’t post, and they begin to inquire after your health. Thank you, and your publisher is pleased to report that he is alive and very well! This has been a very busy month. No one seems to have gotten the memo that […]
KYEstates has received first-hand eyewitness reports today that after nearly 47 and a half years of operation, The Delta Restaurant and Lounge has closed its doors. The restaurant was an institution for Louisville’s legal community in general and for the T&E Community in particular. A notice posted on the door cites the owner’s desire to […]
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. […]
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 […]