Forbes:  “Congress seems set to crack down on a popular strategy for cutting estate and gift taxes.  Tucked into a jobs and small business tax relief bill that the House is expected to vote on Wednesday are new restrictions on a popular estate planning strategy that has been used by, among others, the billionaire Walton family that founded Wal-Mart. The technique, known as a grantor retained annuity trust, or GRAT, allows rich families to pass on wealth while dramatically cutting their estate and gift tax bills.”

New York Times:  “Business owners who do not form a succession plan create a time bomb that can not only destroy their companies but tear apart their families. ‘A lot of families fight and fight until the business is gone . . . It eats up everyone’s inheritances.'  Here are some suggestions to avoid a succession disaster:”

Law Practice Today has an article by Attorney Dennis Kennedy called “Estate Planning for Your Digital Assets.”  He says, “We are gradually, and grudgingly, learning that our online presence can outlive our physical presence and possibly even take on a life of its own. As we begin to move more of our activities—financial, social, work, leisure, creative—to the Internet, the questions about what happens to our online presence and how we best prepare to handle that have begun to grow in quantity and complexity.”

The Trust Advisor Blog:  “With bank failures running at their highest level in nearly two decades, those holding fiduciary accounts may cause problems for advisors who recommend them should the bank fail.  Experts recommend wealth managers conduct due diligence before sending a client to a bank’s trust dept. . . . But until recently, relatively few people worried what would happen if fiduciaries started failing along with banks.”

The Washington Post has a story called “A Patient's Death Prompts a Doctor to Assess ‘Do Not Resuscitate' Orders,” in which a doctor whose patient died comments about patients and an important estate planning document called a “Do Not Resuscitate” or DNR.  The article is especially important for estate planning lawyers because it gives the doctor's perspective on DNR and another document called a “Do Not Intubate” or a DNI.  The story starts with the patient being admitted to the emergency room in critical condition and the doctor resuscitates and incubates and save the patient's life before learning that the patient had a DNR and a DNI.

Investopedia:  “Estate planning is more than simply having a will. It is a continuous planning process done to alleviate the financial impact of your death on those you leave behind. By spending just a few hours and dollars now, you can save your loved ones or beneficiaries from paying as much as a 55% estate tax. But a well-constructed estate plan may not only reduce the tax bill, but also help your loved ones understand, resolve and prepare for many of the issues that arise when settling an estate. We'll show you where to start.”

New York Times:  “For many people, estate planning is both a private matter and a morbid topic — not something that parents and their adult children want to discuss.  While having these conversations takes a lot of courage, they can help avoid surprises, lead to better financial planning and promote family harmony.”

Yahoo Finance:  “Given the relatively low interest rates and transfer tax values, and some Uncle Sam-sanctioned planning techniques, there is a window of golden opportunity, according to Steve Leimberg, the publisher of Leimberg Information Services Inc. and author of “Tools and Techniques of Estate Planning.”  The article discusses three estate planning concepts called tax basis consistency, valuation discounts and grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs).

Forbes has a great article called “Americans Lack Basic Estate Plans.”  The story claims that despite the national attention given to the Terry Schiavo situation, most people do not have a living will, which is instructions to the healthcare providers that you do not want to be kept alive by artificial means if you are in a terminal condition or brain dead.

As an estate planning attorney, I often wonder and am asked what percentage of Americans have an estate plan?  Law.com conducted a national survey that answers the question.  Here are some of the findings of the survey:

• 35% have a will, down from 45% in 2007
• 18% have a trust, down from 31% in 2007
• 29% have a power of attorney (financial or healthcare), down from 46% in 2007

The biggest reason given for ignoring estate planning was the downturn in the economy.  People are more concerned about spending money on more immediate needs.  Here is the bottom line from the article:

“There's a disconnect between public perception of the cost and complexity of creating estate planning documents and the straightforward, affordable choices that are out there for consumers looking to equip themselves with a will and estate plan,”

Reasons cited for not having an estate plan were:

• not enough assets (ignores problems for loved ones if person becomes incapacited or if parents die with minor children)
• do not like to think about death or incapacity (who does, but when people ignore these facts of life, it's their loved ones that suffer)
• belief everything will be ok if they die (I call this the head in the sand, ignore my loved ones approach)
• not aware of wills, trusts and related estate planning documents

Yes, these are difficult times.  Yes sometimes people just do not have the money to purchase a comprehensive estate plan.  Nevertheless, it is always the family and loved ones that suffer.after a death or incapacity.

Estate planning is a form of asset protection for family and loved ones.  Without […]

Financial Planning:  “When it comes to estate planning many advisors forget to talk about a client's cars. . . . ‘This is an area people forget about when it comes to estate planning,' says Kevin Transue, a certified financial planner with Heacock Financial, . . . . ‘The collectors don’t even tell their spouses what they paid for the car.  Nobody out there is talking about it or planning for it, so what typically happens is the cars sell at auctions, where they get bottom dollar and pay sellers’ fees'.”

New York Times:  “TURNING down an inheritance may seem to be an alien concept. But with the estate tax in flux, this process, called disclaiming, can provide needed flexibility.  People who disclaim are generally treated as if they had died before the person from whom they are inheriting. The assets then go to the individual or trust next in line under the estate plan. Or, if the plan makes no such provision, assets are distributed according to state law.”

naplesnews.com:  “It is time again to face year-end chores, including gathering income tax information and estate and gift tax plans. In previous years, a good start would be to first review assets: what is owned, how much is it worth, how is it owned and who gets it when you die?  This year, the most important start is to review the actual wording of existing wills and trusts.   The federal estate tax expired at midnight Dec. 31, but is due to reappear next year with an exemption of one million dollars, not $3.5 million that has been current.”

The Sun:  “Making excuses to delay estate planning is easy. In fact, maybe you've already thought: ‘I'll worry about it when I'm older.”  Or “My estate is too small to be affected.'  Or even, ‘I don't know what I'm going to do with my assets yet.'  However, if you are unprepared when incapacity or death strikes, your family's financial future may not be protected.”

Time and time again I see people procrastinate and avoid preparing for their own death or incapacity.  The most common reason is because people do not believe it will happen to them.  It happens to other people.  We all know that we will all die so why not take steps now to protect your family and loved ones from the mental anguish and unnecessary financial costs that occur when people die or become disability without a will, a trust and health-care and financial documents.

Outlook Money:  “t’s paramount that your wealth and assets reach your kids smoothly after you’re gone.  Here’s how to ensure it.”

Wall St. Journal:  “Mention ‘pets' and ‘estate planning' in the same sentence, and many people think of the late Leona Helmsley, the Manhattan hotelier and convicted tax cheat who left $12 million to Trouble, her Maltese pooch, and also specified that her trust of more than $5 billion be used to benefit dogs.  A judge later reduced Trouble’s personal bequest to $2 million, and the Helmsley estate decided to give only $1 million to dog causes. . . . But she cites four steps that any pet lover should take when planning an estate:”

Professor Paul L. Caron of the University of Cincinnati – College of Law has written a article entitled “Estate and Gift Tax Problems of Principals and Agents Under Durable Powers of Attorney.”  “The combination of advances in life expectancies and improvements in medical technologies has made it increasingly important to plan for a client's possible future incapacity. As a result, the use of durable powers of attorney has exploded in recent years. Indeed, estate planners now typically include such powers and living wills as components of a client's estate plan along with traditional wills and trusts. However, the use of durable powers of attorney can create serious estate and gift tax problems for both the principal and the agent.  This article discusses these tax problems in light of several recent cases and rulings, and suggests drafting strategies to address these tax concerns.”

Yuma Sun:  “What would you want to leave behind for your family?  If your choices were A) a contentious mess, or B) a well-coordinated estate plan, you would choose option B, right? All too many of us end up with option A.  In fact, a recent national survey discovered that only 44 percent of Americans have a simple will, much less a well-coordinated estate plan.  This is a story of four best friends from school: Charlie, Keith, Mike and Stu. Each of them lived very successful lives, but their deaths brought very different outcomes.”

San Franciso Chronicle:  “Karin Prangley, an estate-planning attorney in Chicago, became an expert on post-mortem online assets after experiencing first-hand such complications.  When her father-in-law had a stroke in 2008, his building supplies business lost between $10,000 and $15,000 because packages continued to arrive at his warehouse and no one had any idea where they were supposed to go.  His address book and e-mails were all locked behind password-protected accounts and, eventually, Prangley and other relatives had no choice but to reconstruct her father-in-law's list of contacts on their own. . . . So what happens to our digital identity when we die? Odds are it will remain trapped in the Internet without someone investing quite some time and effort.”