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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

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