John Wick - What You Need To Know about the Corporate Transparency Act
Once Removed Episode 24: Expressing Goals and Intent for the Trust
Once Removed Episode 22: Building Flexibility into the Estate Plan
Once Removed Episode 20: Helping a Beneficiary Purchase a Home
Once Removed Episode 19: The Step-Transaction Doctrine and the Case of Smaldino
Next Generation Legacy Management - The Essence of Developing, Managing and Implementing a Plan for Future Generations
A Primer On Trusts - A Podcast with Janathan Allen
Once Removed Episode 13: It’s 5 o’Clock: Do You Know Where Your Will Is? A Lesson From Aretha Franklin
Charitable Bequests With Guest Stephanie Hood
Once Removed Episode 12: SLATs and the Case of McKim vs. McKim
Once Removed Episode 11: Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts, or SLATs
Digital Planning Podcast Episode: Family Office Technology Solutions
Digital Planning Podcast Episode: The Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act
What is a self-proving affidavit?
The Importance of Beneficiary Designations
Basics of Estate Planning
The Case of the Disappearing Trust
Protecting Your Estate Plan from Challenges: No-Contest Clause Explained
The Secret Child
Welcome to 'Splitting Heirs'
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
Issues affecting all schemes - General Election – impact on pensions - The General Election resulted in a landslide victory for the Labour Party. While no pensions-related announcements have been made since the election by...more
Private companies and their owners face ever-evolving challenges as the market sees new regulations, new deal trends, and new risks in 2024. Below are 10 issues that the owners and leaders of privately held companies should...more
In a decision that bodes poorly for unionized employers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently held that a union benefit fund was contractually entitled to conduct an audit whose scope far exceeded the...more
Ninth Circuit Affirms Decision Rejecting Suit Seeking Early Retirement Benefits - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a district court’s decision rejecting a plaintiff’s lawsuit seeking to overturn...more
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (the SECURE Act) was enacted on December 20, 2019, as part of a major appropriations bill. The SECURE Act is intended to make it easier for a broad range of...more
The federal appropriations bill enacted into law on December 20, 2019 changed federal law in ways that may affect your retirement assets, including 401(k) plans and IRAs. Those changes, often referred to as the “SECURE Act,”...more
On December 20, 2019, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act (the“Act”) was signed into law drastically altering the administration of certain retirement plans such as IRAs and 401Ks. Although...more
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) adopted changes to the required financial statement disclosures of employee benefit plans with investments in master trusts. The changes will standardize the content and...more
To prepare for and manage significantly increased CalPERS employer contribution rates in the coming years, California public agencies approved the establishment and funding of so-called “pension rate stabilization trusts.” ...more
When I speak with employers about the onerous obligations under ERISA and the court decisions that followed, I frequently tell them that the “E” in ERISA stands for “employee,” not employer. It’s good to keep this in mind...more
When Seattle passed its new income tax on July 10, many Washingtonians took note, but quickly moved on. The tax appeared to apply only to Seattle residents earning more than $250,000 for individuals or $500,000 for married...more
ERISA requires that plan assets be held in trust so that they are protected from claims of the employer. With pension plans, it is generally easy to determine when assets become plan assets and when they should be held in...more
On July 31, 2015, President Obama signed into law P.L. 114-41, the "Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015." Although this new law was primarily designed as a 3-month stopgap extension...more
Part I - Overview: Scott Peck’s bestseller the Road less Traveled begins with the understatement of understatements – “Life is difficult”. Trouble in life comes from so many different directions. For the small...more