Blog

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

By Cowles Liipfert It is more common now than it was, even a few years ago, for United States citizens to make financial provision in their estate planning documents for non-US citizens and nonresidents of the United States. We have linked an article concerning Qualified Domestic Trusts (QDOT’s) for noncitizen spouses of United States citizens or residents. Bequests to non-citizens do not qualify for the federal estate tax marital deduction, even where the noncitizen spouse has been married to a… Read More

By Penny Russ Many people are unfamiliar with gift taxes. Here are some of the basics: If you receive a gift, you don’t owe tax, and you don’t have to report the gift as income. The recipient of a gift doesn’t owe gift tax or income tax and does not have a reporting requirement. Gift taxes are the responsibility of the donor. Except for the ones to charitable organizations, gifts are not deductible by the donor. Not all gifts are… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert Estate Tax, Gift Tax and Generation-Skipping Transfer (GST) Tax have nothing to do with income tax.  The recipient of a gift or inherited property does not owe income tax on the gift or inheritance. Gift taxes, if any, are the primary responsibility of the donor.  Those taxes are totally separate and apart from income tax. One income tax-related point, however, is that the recipient of property which has appreciated in value since acquired by the donor, takes… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert The North Carolina General Statutes contain very detailed procedures for establishing or contesting the validity of wills.  Wills must be “probated,” that is, found by the Probate Court (the Clerk of Superior Court) to be properly executed and valid, before an Executor or other personal representative will be appointed to settle a decedent’s estate.     There are two different procedures for determining the validity of a will, called 1) probate in common form, and 2) probate in solemn… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert Much of the time it is not necessary to go through a full estate administration for a decedent’s estate, due to one or more of the reasons discussed below, particularly if the estate is modest in size. Non-Probate Assets Estate administration is not needed for the transfer of non-probate assets, such as real property owned jointly with right of survivorship, life insurance or retirement accounts payable to a named beneficiary, bank accounts or securities accounts which are… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert Health Care Power of Attorney North Carolina authorizes Health Care Powers of Attorney to be executed, authorizing someone to make medical decisions for you, if you become unable to make or communicate your own medical decisions. We recommend that everyone have a Health Care Power of Attorney, which frequently designates a primary agent and also back-up agents, in case the primary agent cannot be reached or cannot make a decision for you.   The official form of Health… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert If you die without a Will and you are a resident of North Carolina, the assets owned by you personally on the date of death (i.e., not owned jointly with someone else who has survivorship rights), and not including assets payable to a named  beneficiary at your death, will pass under the North Carolina Intestate Succession Act. (If a person dies with a Will, he or she is said to have died “testate;” without a Will, he… Read More

By Cowles Liipfert “Irrevocable” trusts in North Carolina often may be modified or even terminated under Article 4 of Chapter 36C of the North Carolina General Statutes. Some terminology used in the article includes:  (a) The trust “Grantor” is the person who creates the Trust;  (b) The “Trustee” is the person or corporate fiduciary who manages the Trust; and  (c) The “Beneficiary” is the person or group of individuals or entities for whom the trust has been created. Irrevocable Trusts… Read More