Law Brief: Alexis Gruttadauria and Rich Schoenstein Discuss Why You Need an Estate Plan
On July 18, 2024, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued final regulations updating the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules. The final regulations reflect changes made by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement...more
Despite ultimately finding in favor of a taxpayer surviving spouse, IRS Private Letter Ruling 2023-22-014 (the “PLR”) is chock-full of reasons to ensure proper planning is in place when it comes to IRAs....more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (“Appropriations Act”) was signed by President Biden and became law on December 29, 2022. Included in the Appropriations Act is the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“Secure Act”), which...more
In this two-part webinar series, Weber Gallagher's Kristen Swift and Tracy Walsh will be joined by Rebecca Byrd, Partner at ByrdGomes, to discuss pending legislation before the Delaware General Assembly. These webinars will...more
Massachusetts is already an unattractive state of residency from an estate tax planning perspective because of its low estate tax filing threshold of $1,000,000 per person. Once a person’s adjusted taxable estate is over $1M...more
February 2020 Interest Rates for GRATs, Sales to Defective Grantor Trusts, Intra-Family Loans and Split-Interest Charitable Trusts - The February Section 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs,...more
When choosing a beneficiary for a retirement plan, it is important to understand how your spouse will be treated under the plan. Surviving spouses are treated differently under 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts...more
Estate, Gift and GST Tax Update - What This Means for Your Current Will, Revocable Trust and Estate Plan - The estate and gift tax regimes have been permanent and unified since the passage of The American Taxpayer...more
Synopsis: A recent 4th Circuit decision reiterates the importance of aligning a plan fiduciary’s administrative claim and appeal review process with the standards for a “full and fair review” under U.S. Department of Labor...more
An estate planning rule of thumb is to review (and, if necessary, revise) one’s estate plan in light of major life events. Such events include a marriage, birth of a child and a divorce. A second marriage also calls for an...more
In most households, there is one spouse who handles financial matters- paying bills, filing tax returns, planning retirement income. While division of labor might be great, there could be problems if the "non-financial"...more
Spouses who are turning full retirement age this year are the last group who can choose whether to take spousal benefits or to take benefits on their own record. The strategy, used by some couples to maximize their benefits,...more
• In Laborers' Pension Fund v. Miscevic, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the Illinois slayer statute is one state statute that is not pre-empted by ERISA. A slayer statute is a law that prevents an...more
It’s almost impossible to fully prepare for a spouse’s sudden death, but it helps to keep one’s finances organized and communicate with a spouse about these matters. This article offers points to address in the event a spouse...more
In Estate of Gibson, a man named his sister as the beneficiary of his retirement plan in 1989. No. 06-17-00059-CV, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 9963 (Tex. App.—Texarkana October 13, 2017, no pet.)....more
IRAs are meant to be used for retirement saving. However, if a person doesn’t need to tap into an IRA for income during retirement, he or she can preserve the assets as part of his or her estate, above and beyond what was...more
Typically, estate planning and retirement planning go hand in hand. Why? The more wealth a person is able to set aside for retirement — and the better job he or she does managing retirement funds — the more that will be left...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini provided insight on a case in which a widow and one-time named beneficiary of her husband's IRA account acquired the account assets after her husband's death, although she was not...more
A recent opinion from the Second Circuit puts retirement plan administrators on notice that adjustments to benefits may be necessary to account for retroactively effective qualified domestic relations orders (QDROs). In...more
In the summer of 2013, the Supreme Court issued a decision in U.S. v. Windsor, striking down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and eliminating the requirement that federal law recognize only marriages...more
In the first reported ERISA decision post-Windsor, the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held (in Cozen O’Connor, P.C. v. Jennifer Tobits) that a same-sex spouse is to be treated as the decedent’s...more
Two controversial cases involving same-sex marriage were decided on June 26, 2013 by the United States Supreme Court. ...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court, in U.S. v. Windsor, ruled that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional because it violates the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guaranty for persons of the same...more