Estate Planning and Administration in the Digital Age
The Legal Intelligencer
February 5, 2013
From our financial accounts and tax records to our music and photograph libraries, more and more of our assets are finding homes online. When we die, however, our online accounts and passwords do not necessarily die with us. Full Text
Factoring Shale Royalties Into Estate Planning
The Legal Intelligencer
February 5, 2013
While the Marcellus and Utica shales present a boon to the Pennsylvania economy, the negotiation of a lease should not be the only legal consideration for a landowner. There are a multitude of estate and income-tax issues to consider both before and after signing a lease and before drilling commences. Full Text
Key Planning in Maximizing a Business Sale Price
The Legal Intelligencer
February 5, 2013
One of the great challenges in wealth management is counseling around enhancing and realizing the value of what is often the bedrock asset of a client: his or her business or professional practice. Locked into the going concern of a business is a value that, when realized as sales proceeds, provides liquidity and capital that has been the client's hope and dream. Maximizing and achieving this ultimate success is best assured when done out of strength — a process that starts well before the sale date. Full Text
Dealing With the Financial Aftermath of Divorce
The Legal Intelligencer
February 5, 2013
The adage says that "some things get better with age," but apparently marriage is not always one of them. Unfortunately, the divorce rate for older couples is increasing. A recent study by Susan L. Brown and I-Fen Lin, sociologists at Bowling Green State University, found that approximately one in four divorces in 2010 were couples age 50 or older. Although no clear explanation is available as to why rates are increasing, one thing is clear: the longer the marriage, the more assets can accumulate. This accumulation of assets creates complex situations if a couple separates. The important question is what one should do to prepare. The answer is easier said than done because of the emotional investment that is involved. Full Text
Investment Managers Still Qualify for Capital Gains Tax Treatment
The Legal Intelligencer
February 5, 2013
The 2012 presidential campaign and the fiscal cliff debate brought our attention to many tax issues, one of which is the continuing discussion about how carried interest is taxed. Essentially, the debate of carried interest centers on whether or not investment managers and partners should continue to be afforded capital gains treatment instead of being subject to ordinary rates and self-employment taxes for their carried interest. Full Text
Gift Planning in the Wake of Fiscal Cliff Developments
The Legal Intelligencer
February 5, 2013
Not since enactment of the first federal gift tax in 1924 had there been such a strong incentive as there was in 2012 to give property to one's heirs during one's lifetime, and to do it right away. Part of the so-called "fiscal cliff" was the prospect that the lifetime exemption for passing property tax-free to one's children and grandchildren would go from $5.12 million per person in 2012 to $1 million per person in 2013. The automatic expiration built into the Bush-era tax reductions would have returned the lifetime exemption to that amount, and President Obama's position was that the exemption applicable to decedents' estates could be larger, but that $1 million should be reinstated as the limit on tax-free gifts during a lifetime. Full Text
