What I do:
- I help people with estate plans. I work on the administration of estates, guardianships, and trusts. I represent folks in controversies about estates, guardianships, and trusts.
- I give legal advice, write legal documents, go to court, and serve as guardian, executor, and administrator. I have a Masters in Taxation from N.Y.U., and I give advice on taxes. But I let accountants do the tax returns.
- I try to write my legal papers, when practical, in plain language.
- I keep my overhead low and my fees reflect this.
Read here about:
Special Note: The Federal Estate Tax expired in 2010. This was good news for some families. But there was a downside to the expiration of the estate tax because property going through estates in 2010 did not automatically get a new income tax basis in inherited property equal to the fair market value of the property on the date of death. So if you sell the property you inherited in 2010 you may be faced with a capital gains tax that you would not have had to pay if the decedent had died in 2009 or earlier. Late in 2010, the Federal Estate Tax was extended for 2011 and 2012. The threshold for the tax was raised to $5,000,000, so most middle-class folks just don't have to worry about this too much. Also, new measures were enacted to deal with the potential for capital gains tax on property inherited in 2010 while there was no Federal Estate Tax.
Because the extension and it's $5,000,000 threshold lasts for only two years, we are on notice that the fate of the Federal Estate Tax is still in play. It's now late in March 2012. In nine months the two-year extension of the Federal Estate Tax will be history. Then the law will revert to what it was before George W. Bush became President. The threshold amout for exposure to the Federal Estate tax will once again be $1,000,000.