Friday, February 03, 2012 Estate Tax Watch 2012At the present time the biggest risk is uncertainty and really only to a limited degree. While the Estate Tax Exemption has continually increased over the last 30 years, there seems to be no chance that it will be permanently decreased to something less than $3 million. Which would mean that a couple could shelter more than $6 million with very little work.
The risk and uncertainty are about how we get there. The current $5 million exemption DOES expire this year. With the current atmosphere in Washington we have to assume that the unthinkable will happen and we will revert to the $1 million exemption for at least a few weeks and very likely longer.
This puts wealthy, single, seniors at risk. Singles are more at risk because it is assumed that in the long term we will have a generous Estate Tax Exemption again and if your spouse passes away in early 2013 you would still have the Unlimited Marital Deduction to avoid Estate Taxes in the short term.
So if you have a wealthy grandmother – get her to the Estate Planning Attorney soon!
For everyone else, the issue is FLEXIBILITY. You need an Estate Plan that can handle an Exemption ranging from $1 million to $5 million.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 Secretary of State - Statements Of Information
Anyone who has a corporation or LLC knows about the annual Statements of Information that must be filed with the Secretary of State. In the past these have had very little meaning. I have had several Trials where I was trying to pierce the corporate veil and introduced evidence to the Judge that the Statements of Information were incorrectly filled out ... the Judges would just shrug and indicate it was kind of a meaningless form.
Today financial institutions and insurance companies seem to be giving these Statements of Information more credence. They are particularly interested in whether the Officers and Directors listed on the Statement of Information are consistent with the corporation / LLC minutes or a pending application for credit or insurance. I am not sure where this requirement came from but it is probably an outgrowth of the Financial Markets Reform legislation in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage mess.
When these are filed with the Secretary of State you can send a copy with a self-addressed stamped return envelope and the Secretary of State will return a conformed copy to you. I strongly suggest that everyone do this as obtaining a certified copy for the Secretary of State can take 4-6 weeks. |