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Ask These Four Questions When Planning Your Legacy

Posted By Lineweaver Financial Group
October 17, 2024 Category: Legacy Planning, Inheritance, Beneficiary, Wealth Transfer

While many people equate legacy planning with estate planning, they are not the same. Estate planning is a component, but legacy planning involves more than simply deciding who inherits your assets—it's about ensuring your wealth is passed down efficiently and according to your wishes. To help you get started, here are four essential questions to ask when preparing your finances to pass to your loved ones. 1. Is Your Beneficiary Information Up-to-Date? Every financial account you own—from retirement accounts to life insurance policies—requires a beneficiary designation. This can include primary and secondary beneficiaries, and you may even have multiple beneficiaries per account. It’s vital to review this information annually to ensure its accurate and reflects your current wishes. Ask yourself: Have there been any life changes, such as a marriage, divorce, or birth, that might affect your choices? Is the contact information, including addresses and phone numbers, up to date? It’s also wise to have a conversation with your beneficiaries so they understand what to expect. Additionally, consider assigning a Financial Power of Attorney for each of your accounts, and discuss the responsibility with that individual to make the process as seamless as possible in the event of your passing. 2. Are Your Beneficiaries Aligned with Your Wealth Transfer Strategy? Our beneficiaries are often family members—children, grandchildren, ni

A new IRS ruling could affect your children’s inheritance

Posted By Lineweaver Financial Group
July 26, 2023 Category: General, IRS, Inheritance, Trust, Estate Planning

In a major shift, a new IRS ruling has tightened the regulations surrounding irrevocable trusts and the step-up basis. In the past, families have been utilizing irrevocable trusts to protect their assets from spend-down to still qualify for benefits like Medicaid and VA Aid. Also during this time, it was not clear if assets passing to beneficiaries through an irrevocable trust would receive a step-up in basis, which eliminated any capital gains taxes that would otherwise be owed.  Historically, assets that individuals sold or transferred during their lifetime have been taxed as capital gains, based on the appreciation in value that occurred over time. The capital gains owed are predominantly calculated by comparing the asset's value at the time of purchase with its value at the time of transfer. An exception to the obligation of capital gains taxes comes when the owner of the assets dies, and the assets pass to their beneficiaries. The beneficiaries receive a step-up in basis, therefore they inherit the assets as if it had been purchased at the current fair market value instead of the value of the assets at the original time of purchase. This eliminates any capital gains, and no taxes become due. The new IRS ruling has tightened the regulations surrounding irrevocable trusts and the step-up in basis. According to the updated guidelines, assets held within certain irrevocable trusts will no longer receive the benefit of a step-up in basis upon the grantor's

Don’t make the mistake of leaving your grandchildren with a tax bill instead of an inheritance

Posted By Lineweaver Financial Group
July 13, 2023 Category: Finance, Tax, Inheritance, Trust, 529, IRA

For older Americans, leaving retirement savings to their grandchildren without also leaving them a big tax bill is becoming harder under new rules that took effect in 2020.  Previously, heirs other than spouses had decades to draw down inherited retirement accounts. After the rules change, now they must do it within 10 years.  To maximize their family’s after-tax wealth, grandparents are changing their estate plans and creating new trusts. The timing change also has grandparents making a series of Roth conversions or big generation-skipping lifetime gifts. These choices make sense with the amount of money and taxes that are at play. According to the Investment Company Institute, Americans held $12.5 trillion in IRAs as of March 31, 2023 and 52% of households headed by someone 65 or older have one.    By choosing to leave a Roth IRA, you avoid some of the problems of the accelerated tax hit from an inherited traditional IRA since those can cause a big tax bill, especially if distributions fall during the heir’s highest earning years. Minor grandchildren may also need to file a tax return to report the IRA payouts, and the income could be taxed at the parents’ rate.  However, because of the 10-year payout period, there is a risk that your heirs will spend the money quickly.  Other options to consider when planning your legacy is to start making lifetime gifts to grandchildren as soon as they are born. That can look like pay

Do You Want Your In-laws to Inherit Your Money?

Posted By Lineweaver Financial Group
July 06, 2018 Category: Q3 Newsletter, In Laws, Inheritance, Trusts, Bloodline Trust, Marital Trust

By Michael L. Solomon of Solomon, Steiner and Peck Most people think their will or trust provides that on their demise, that their assets pass to their children and if their children pass away the assets pass to their grandchildren. However, that only happens if your child dies before you. Hopefully, your children outlive you. If that happens, the typical will and trust have the money pass directly to your children immediately, or by the time they are a certain age. Either way, once the child inherits the money, it is governed by your child’s will or trust, not yours. That means that upon your child’s death, the assets will most likely pay to your son-in-law or daughter-in-law and may pass on their death to someone else, such as a new spouse. For some people that is fine, but for others it may not be what you want. Many people want the money to stay in the family. To do that you need what we call a Bloodline Trust.  For example, let us say and husband and wife have an estate of $500,000 and one child who is married with two children. A typical estate plan will provide that the inheritance pays outright to the child. Once the child inherits the money, his estate plan will say that all of his estate, including what the child inherits from you, pays to his spouse. With the Bloodline Trust the $500,000 will be held in a trust for the benefit of the child. The child can be their own trustee and they can control the investments and decide how the money is distrib