Law Offices of M. Franklin Parrish

TAX REASONS FOR UPDATING YOUR ESTATE PLAN IN 2018 DUE TO THE NEW TAX LAW The following changes in the new Tax Law signed by the President in December of 2017, make it advisable for you to now review your personal estate plan and to make sure it is up to date: 1. The Federal Estate Tax "Applicable Exclusion Amount" has increased to $10,980,000.00 (i.e., approximately $11,000,000.00) per individual in 2018. A married couple may shelter up to $22,000,000.00 from federal estate... taxation. If your estate plan was drafted before 2010, it needs to be reviewed. You may have Trusts which become irrevocable at the first spouse's death, and this may no longer be necessary for proper tax planning. 2. In addition, if you are married the new tax law allows a surviving spouse to utilize the unused portion of a deceased spouse's Applicable Exclusion Amount (i.e., any part of his or her $10,980,000.00) to offset taxes at the survivor's death. This depends upon how your Trust is drafted and what is done at the first spouse’s death. 3. Many provisions in your Durable Power Of Attorney and Advance Health Care Directive should be reviewed. Please understand, a Durable Power Of Attorney only governs non-Trust assets and terminates at death. Likewise, it is important for you to review all of your IRA beneficiary designations, and to make sure you have designated both a Primary Beneficiary, as well as a Secondary Beneficiary. Failure to do so will cause such non-probate assets to go through probate. 4. Internal Revenue Code Section 1014 (b)(6) allows a "double step up" in income tax cost basis at the death of the first spouse. However, this "step up" is dependent upon proper re-titling of all assets as community property instead of joint tenancy. Due to refinancing, many clients take homes out of their Trust and fail to retitle them back into the Trust. Therefore, a probate estate is created. 5. You may establish within your Revocable Living Trust new asset protection Trusts for various beneficiaries. These Trusts will shelter a child’s inheritance from a divorce or other lawsuits. Please understand, the primary purpose of this message is to alert you of the importance of keeping your estate plan in order. These issues apply to all US citizens irrespective of your net worth, or whether you are married, single, gay or straight. If you now believe a free, follow-up conference with me is desirable, please call my office to schedule an appointment. Likewise, I encourage you to visit my new website and review the above issues in more detail at: www.parrishestatelaw.com. See more

WHEN ESTATE PLANNING SOLVE PROBLEMS DO NOT CREATE THEM After four (4) decades of practicing law in the area of estate planning, I have come to realize that many client initial estate planning objectives tend to create new problems, rather than solving such issues. Why and how is this possible? Examples of such issues may involve both married couples, as well as single clients. Such problem issues arise when clients desire to appoint Successor Co-Executors of a Will, Succe...Continue reading

Estate planning for Married Clients We assist married couples in avoiding unnecessary income and estate taxes, as well as probate, through the creation of revocable living trusts as well as irrevocable trusts, asset protection trusts, drafting of additional estate planning documents. California is a community property state. We counsel married couples in understanding how community property titling is different from joint tenancy and how titling affects an estate plan.... Read more here: http://www.parrishestatelaw.com/married-client-estate-plan/

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Post-Mortem Trust Administration After a client has died, we assist family members and fiduciaries (i.e., Executors, Trustees) in the proper administration of trusts and other estate settlement documents to fulfill the goals of the client’s estate plan. We will also provide Medicare and medical planning services in special needs cases for elderly clients, disabled clients, and their care givers.... Read More here: http://www.parrishestatelaw.com/post-mortem-trust-administ/

Estate planning for Same Sex/LGBTQ Clients For same sex/LGBTQ couples there is not a great deal of literature, either in the popular press or in legal publications addressing the issue of, for lack of a better term, alternative lifestyle estate planning. The purpose of this article is to briefly address certain major issues applicable to same sex couples, as well as opposite sex couples living outside of what the law recognizes as a traditional marriage.... Read more here: http://www.parrishestatelaw.com/same-sex-estate-planning/

Estate planning for Single Clients We provide services to single clients, same-sex couples, single parents, and unmarried couples in developing effective estate and trust plans that assure privacy and are appropriate to their unique situations. We aid clients in the creation of revocable living trusts as well as drafting additional necessary documents, including wills, durable powers of attorney, advance health care directives and assignments.... Read More here: http://www.parrishestatelaw.com/single-client-estate-plann/