Trusts can be a wonderful tool for tax planning. If your death is likely to cause an estate tax or an inheritance tax, you should understand the basics of life insurance trusts. An irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) is one the most common form of trusts and is the base for many other trusts such […]
New Jersey is a very diverse state, and I have quite a few clients of Indian heritage. Accordingly, I thought I would share some advice regarding estate planning for Americans with assets in India: India does not have an estate or an inheritance tax; There is no treaty with respect to the US and India […]
Every year the Internal Revenue Service publishes a list of inflation adjustments. You can find them on the IRS website in Revenue Procedure 2020-45. Here are the important inflation updates for 2021 that relate to Gift and Estate Taxes and others that are just useful: Federal Estate & Gift Tax Inflation Updates for 2021 2021 […]
If you have a loved one who died outside of New Jersey, but they owned real property in New Jersey, what do you do? The answer is an Ancillary Probate. Generally, this means you will conduct a second probate action in New Jersey after you have done one in the state (or country) where the […]
I try very hard not to be political in these blog posts. I also try not to speculate on what the government may or may not do as they frequently compromise in an unpredicted manner. However, I would be remise if I didn’t talk about the fact that Joseph Biden is ahead in most of […]
A Power of Attorney (“POA”) is a very useful and inexpensive document to obtain. If you do not have a POA, in order for your spouse or loved ones to make financial decisions for you, they must institute a guardianship proceeding.
The Pollock Firm LLC is pleased to announce that Merideth E. Ketterer, Esq. has joined our firm as an associate attorney. Merideth grew up in Hanover, Pennsylvania and graduated cum laude from Temple University in 2016 with a B.A. in Strategic Communication and a minor in Business Studies. In 2019, she received her Juris Doctor degree from Temple […]
This year, it’s more important than ever to have your children prepare a Living Will before going back to college.
One of the most common questions I get as an estate planning attorney is whether clients should name TOD beneficiaries on an account or transfer it a Trust. A TOD beneficiary designation means “Transfer on Death”. Some financial institutions also call this a POD designation (or “Pay on Death”). Usually the people who name TOD […]