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Please Click HerePosted on December 29, 2009 by Mark J. Bradley
In 2001, Congress made changes to the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax laws. To satisfy a procedural requirement in the Senate, the 2001 law contained a “sunset” provision, meaning that it would expire at the end of ten years, at which time the provisions of the law in effect in 2001 would be […]
Posted on December 7, 2009 by Mark J. Bradley
Last week, by a vote of 225 to 200, a permanent extension of the 2009 federal estate tax law was passed – by the House of Representatives. We want to caution our clients that what was passed is NOT the end of the story – but only the beginning of the end of the story. […]
Posted on April 21, 2009 by Melissa S. Kampmann
If your assets, including life insurance proceeds and retirement assets, are close to or worth more than $3,500,000, you have very attractive estate planning opportunities because of the rare convergence of the following three events: Depressed asset values; Historically low interest rates; and The potential for a limited time frame to continue receiving valuation discounts […]
Posted on January 13, 2009 by Mark D. Munson
Medicaid is a joint federal and state program, known as Medical Assistance in Wisconsin, which provides health care coverage to financially eligible individuals. It is the only program that pays for long-term nursing home care. Federal legislation, effective February 8, 2006, and adopted by Wisconsin, effective February 1, 2008, changed many important aspects of Medical […]
Posted on December 29, 2008 by Mary Ellen Schill
In an effort to minimize tax and financial burdens associated with IRAs and certain retirement plans (1) in current market conditions, Congress recently passed, and on December 23, the President signed into law, the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (the Act). Two components of the Act, which are summarized below, provide IRA […]
Posted on December 22, 2008 by Mark D. Munson
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals recently determined that the assets within an irrevocable trust (a type of trust that cannot be revoked or amended by the person who creates it) were available to the trust-maker and had to be used for nursing home and related long-term care expenses. The case underscores the importance of having […]
Posted on November 17, 2008 by Melissa S. Kampmann
In light of the financial troubles in the U.S. market, many individuals are concerned about the security of assets they have deposited at financial institutions. The FDIC – short for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – is an independent agency of the United States government that protects you against the loss of deposits if an […]
Posted on October 19, 2006 by Ruder Ware Alumni
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 contains important provisions designed to encourage charitable contributions by individuals. At the same time, Congress was concerned about reining in what it perceives as abuses of the charitable contribution deduction, so the Pension Act contains a number of restrictions on your ability to obtain a deduction for donations of […]
Posted on March 1, 2001 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Many people think of trusts as stodgy legal documents used primarily for leaving money to heirs. But the truth is that trusts are much more than that. Trusts can be used for a broad variety of purposes, from charitable gifting to reducing your taxes. A trust is simply a formal agreement that assigns ownership of […]