Advanced Planning
A structured reference for transfer-tax strategies, family entities, directed trusts, situs, governance, and multigenerational stewardship.
32 voci di riferimento
A blind trust places investment control with an independent trustee and limits the beneficiary's knowledge or influence, but the label alone does not satisfy any particular public-ethics, securities, tax, or conflict rule.
Concetto chiave: A truly qualified arrangement may require divestiture, independent management, and regulator approval under the applicable regime.
Leggi la guida completaBusiness succession coordinates voting control, economics, leadership, buy-sell terms, valuation, liquidity, key relationships, and the owner's personal estate plan before incapacity, retirement, or death.
Concetto chiave: Entity documents and buy-sell agreements can control transfers despite a will.
Leggi la guida completaCharitable planning can use direct gifts, beneficiary designations, donor-advised funds, split-interest trusts, or private foundations, each with different control, timing, valuation, administration, and tax effects.
Concetto chiave: The charity's legal name and tax identification should be confirmed.
Leggi la guida completaA charitable lead trust pays charity first for a term or measured lives, then transfers the remainder to noncharitable beneficiaries; annuity and unitrust versions have different valuation and tax characteristics.
Concetto chiave: A CLT reverses the order of interests in a CRT.
Leggi la guida completaA charitable remainder trust is an irrevocable split-interest trust that pays a qualifying noncharitable interest for a term or lives, with the remainder passing to charity; CRAT and CRUT payout designs differ.
Concetto chiave: A CRT must satisfy statutory payout, duration, remainder-value, and administration requirements.
Leggi la guida completaA CRUT is a charitable remainder trust that pays a fixed percentage of annually revalued trust assets, so payments can rise or fall with value; permitted net-income variants add further rules.
Concetto chiave: Annual valuation is intrinsic to the unitrust formula.
Leggi la guida completaCommunity-property law classifies ownership between spouses and can affect control, division, creditor exposure, federal reporting, and basis at death; nine states use a general community-property system and some states permit elective arrangements.
Concetto chiave: Domicile, source of funds, agreements, and tracing can determine classification.
Leggi la guida completaA credit shelter trust is funded at the first spouse's death to use available exclusion and benefit family without ordinary inclusion in the surviving spouse's estate when designed and administered correctly.
Concetto chiave: It is also called a bypass, family, or B trust in some plans.
Leggi la guida completaA directed trust divides traditional trustee functions among a directed trustee and one or more trust directors or advisers, such as separate investment, distribution, or family-business decision-makers.
Concetto chiave: Titles and liability standards differ by state.
Leggi la guida completaA DAPT is a self-settled irrevocable trust formed under a state's statute that may protect a settlor-beneficiary from some future creditors if strict requirements are met; interstate, bankruptcy, fraudulent-transfer, and public-policy issues make outcomes uncertain.
Concetto chiave: Only some states authorize self-settled spendthrift protection.
Leggi la guida completaA dynasty trust is a long-duration trust designed to hold and govern assets for multiple generations, often combining GST planning, beneficiary protection, and flexible fiduciary governance.
Concetto chiave: Permitted duration depends on governing law and any rule against perpetuities.
Leggi la guida completaReal-estate planning coordinates title, management authority, debt, insurance, entity agreements, tax basis, liquidity, and property in multiple jurisdictions.
Concetto chiave: A separate-state property can create ancillary administration.
Leggi la guida completaFamily governance uses agreed decision processes, education, communication, and role clarity to help a long-term plan function across people and generations; it complements rather than replaces legal documents.
Concetto chiave: A family council, mission statement, and meeting cadence have no single required form.
Leggi la guida completaA firearms trust is a trust drafted to own and administer firearms under applicable federal and state law, including National Firearms Act procedures where relevant; it does not waive background checks, registration, transfer tax, possession limits, or local prohibitions.
Concetto chiave: Federal rules distinguish NFA-regulated firearms from ordinary firearms.
Leggi la guida completaGST tax is a separate federal transfer-tax system for certain transfers to skip persons or skip trusts; exemption allocation and trust inclusion ratios require specific analysis.
Concetto chiave: GST tax can arise as a direct skip, taxable distribution, or taxable termination.
Leggi la guida completaA generation-skipping trust is designed for beneficiaries two or more generations below the transferor, or other skip persons, with deliberate GST-tax allocation and distribution planning.
Concetto chiave: A trust for grandchildren is not automatically GST-tax exempt.
Leggi la guida completaA GRAT is an irrevocable term trust in which the grantor keeps a fixed annuity and transfers remaining value to beneficiaries if asset performance exceeds the assumed federal rate and the structure succeeds.
Concetto chiave: The remainder gift is valued at creation under statutory valuation rules.
Leggi la guida completaProperty acquired from a decedent often receives a basis tied to fair market value at the applicable valuation date under federal law, but exceptions, entity rules, community property, and estate-inclusion questions matter.
Concetto chiave: A higher basis can reduce later gain; a lower value can also step basis down.
Leggi la guida completaAn IDGT is an irrevocable trust designed so a transfer can be complete for gift and estate tax while the grantor remains the income-tax owner; the 'defect' is intentional only in that tax-classification sense.
Concetto chiave: Frequently paired with a gift and sale for a note, but neither step is automatic or risk-free.
Leggi la guida completaAn ILIT is an irrevocable trust designed to own or receive life insurance and manage proceeds, often seeking liquidity and exclusion from the insured's gross estate when ownership and administration rules are satisfied.
Concetto chiave: Transferring an existing policy can trigger a federal three-year estate-inclusion rule.
Leggi la guida completaAn irrevocable trust is a broad category in which the settlor cannot simply reclaim or rewrite the arrangement at will; its tax, creditor, and control results depend on retained powers, beneficiary rights, funding, and governing law.
Concetto chiave: Irrevocable does not mean unchangeable under every circumstance.
Leggi la guida completaA marital trust is a broad descriptive category for a trust designed to benefit a spouse; it is not one standardized tax classification, and only a trust that satisfies the applicable statutory terms and elections receives a federal or state marital deduction.
Concetto chiave: The governing instrument may give the spouse mandatory income, discretionary principal, withdrawal rights, a power of appointment, or another defined interest; the label marital trust does not supply those rights.
Leggi la guida completaA noncharitable purpose trust holds property for a permitted purpose rather than ordinary human beneficiaries, typically requiring an enforcer and a state law that recognizes the purpose and duration.
Concetto chiave: Recognition and permissible duration vary sharply.
Leggi la guida completaPortability can allow a surviving spouse to use a deceased spouse's unused federal exclusion, but the deceased spouse's estate generally must make a valid election on Form 706 or qualify for available relief.
Concetto chiave: Portability is a federal election; state treatment may differ.
Leggi la guida completaA QTIP trust can qualify property for the estate-tax marital deduction while requiring income for the surviving spouse and preserving the first spouse's control over the remainder, if statutory terms and the executor's election are satisfied.
Concetto chiave: The surviving spouse generally must be entitled to all trust income at least annually during life.
Leggi la guida completaA QDOT can permit a marital deduction for qualifying property passing to a surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen, while imposing U.S.-trustee, withholding, security, and distribution-tax rules.
Concetto chiave: The QDOT election is generally made on the decedent's estate-tax return.
Leggi la guida completaA QPRT transfers a qualifying residence to an irrevocable trust while the grantor retains use for a fixed term, reducing the value of the taxable remainder gift if statutory requirements are met.
Concetto chiave: Death during the retained term can cause estate inclusion.
Leggi la guida completaA trust named as retirement-account beneficiary can be drafted to pass plan distributions out to a beneficiary (conduit) or retain them (accumulation), but qualification, payout timing, tax rate, protection, and beneficiary eligibility must be analyzed under current retirement law.
Concetto chiave: A trust is not automatically a designated beneficiary for retirement-rule purposes.
Leggi la guida completaA SLAT is an irrevocable lifetime gift trust created by one spouse for the other spouse and often descendants, seeking to move assets outside the donor's estate while preserving indirect family access through discretionary distributions.
Concetto chiave: The donor should not retain an enforceable right to trust property.
Leggi la guida completaA state estate tax is generally assessed by reference to the estate, while an inheritance tax generally depends on what a beneficiary receives and the beneficiary's class; domicile and in-state property can both matter.
Concetto chiave: State thresholds, rates, deductions, elections, and forms do not necessarily follow federal law.
Leggi la guida completaA third-party special needs trust holds assets contributed by someone other than the beneficiary and gives a trustee discretion to supplement the beneficiary's life without assuming the trust is invisible to every benefit program.
Concetto chiave: Third-party and first-party trusts are not interchangeable.
Leggi la guida completaA Crummey trust gives beneficiaries temporary, real withdrawal rights intended to make contributions present-interest gifts for annual-exclusion purposes; the rights, notices, funding, and trustee conduct must be genuine.
Concetto chiave: The name comes from a judicial doctrine, not a separate statutory trust form.
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