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Prior to the adoption of The SECURE Act of 2019, the required minimum required distributions (RMDs) for retirement accounts were based strictly on the actuarial life expectancy of the beneficiary. If the beneficiary of the retirement account was a trust, the distributions from the retirement account to the trust were based on the age of the trust’s “identifiable primary beneficiary.” If there were several identifiable beneficiaries, the RMD was based on the life expectancy of the oldest identifiable beneficiary. The… Read More

The economic downturn caused by COVID-19 will unfortunately be with us for the foreseeable future. There has never been a better time to try to make the best financial decisions possible.  I have been working in the Bankruptcy Law area for over 20 years along with my paralegal, Vicki Craver. We have seen decisions made by folks, sometimes out of panic or frustration, that have led to regrettable outcomes. I can share some of those decisions with you. Although it… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert With less than 1% of taxpayers now being subject to federal estate tax under the new tax laws, the emphasis for tax planning for most of us has shifted from estate tax planning to income tax planning. Many people have retirement accounts of sufficient size to warrant more attention to income tax planning for those assets. A participant’s retirement account is funded with tax-deductible contributions during his or her high earning years, presumably when he or she… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert Donor-Advised funds are a tax-advantaged way to make gifts to charities over time. A donor-advised fund is basically an account with a public charity which has a donor-advised program and which qualifies as a “sponsoring organization.” Gifts are made to the fund, which is held in the name of the donor or in the name or names of the donor’s family members. Gifts from donors to the fund qualify as charitable deductions for income tax purposes, and distributions are… Read More

Many employers offer benefits to their workers as part of their total compensation package.  These employee benefits can take the form of disability insurance and retirement plans, including 401(k) plans and pensions.  These benefits are often governed by ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.   ERISA is intended to protect the interest of employees who are enrolled in employee benefit plans to make sure they receive the benefits they were promised.  If you are an employee and have… Read More

The SECURE Act (acronym for Setting Every Community Up for Retirement) was enacted on December 20, 2019. It is intended to encourage Americans to save for their futures and to incentivize businesses to make retirement saving opportunities more accessible to their employees. The bill makes some substantial changes to retirement plan legislation which will affect both individual and business taxpayers.  Here are some of the significant provisions: The age at which required minimum distributions (RMD’s) must begin went from 70… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert Estate planning is more than simply deciding who gets your assets after your death.  It includes a wide range of matters, such as (1) planning for yourself and for your family in the event you become incapacitated; (2) the appointment of guardians for your minor children, if any, in the event of the deaths of both parents; (3) the protection of assets for minors, or for beneficiaries who cannot manage money, are incapacitated, or otherwise need asset… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert It is becoming more frequent for one spouse to be a non-citizen of the United States.  A different set of rules applies to non-citizen spouses than to US citizens, even if the non-citizen spouse has resided in the US for many years, and even if he or she has children who are US citizens.    When it comes to basic estate planning, residents who are non-citizens should have documents similar to those of citizens.  The estate of a… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert If a loved one passes away, and after the funeral and other personal matters have been attended to, someone needs to determine whether an estate administration will be needed, whereby a personal representative for the decedent (usually called an “executor” or “administrator”) will be appointed by the probate court (the Clerk of Superior Court in North Carolina) to pay debts, funeral and administration expenses, file tax returns, etc., and to distribute the remaining assets to devisees (under… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert When someone dies, the person who will be responsible for handling the estate needs to look for the deceased person’s original will and to have it filed with the probate court (the Office of the Clerk of Superior Court in North Carolina) in the county where the decedent resided. If there is a will, the will probably names an executor, who will be responsible for handling the estate.  If there is no will, the closest family member… Read More