Category Archives: Duties

Your duties. Executor. Personal representative. Estate representative. Guardian. Guardianship. Conservator. trustee. Attorney-in-fact. Financial Agent. Health care Agent. Funeral Agent.

Why doesn’t death cancel a subscription?

If you have an elderly or incapacitated relative who would like a new service or subscription, be sure to put it in their name, NOT yours. Request “user” access so you can pay the bills but don’t put the account(s) in your name. If you do, you may be sorry.A recent AARP magazine article told a story about a man who had moved into an assisted living facility. His niece’s husband ordered Dish Network for him. Shortly thereafter he died but the contract lived on. If it had been in the name of the deceased, it could have been canceled. Most companies that sell subscriptions are willing to cancel them upon the death of the account holder. However, since the contract was in the name of a living person, Dish refused to cancel it. It was only through the efforts of an AARP advocate that the problem was finally resolved.

For more information on planning for old age go to https://diesmart.com/elder-law/.

Health Debate Isn’t About Health

In an effort to help DieSmart visitors become more educated about the significance of the proposed health care reform legislation, DieSmart will aggregate and post articles from a variety of sources for your review.

Health Debate Isn’t About Health – WSJ.com.

Vicki Iovine: Girlfriends’ Guide To Parenting Your Parents: They Are So Hard To Discipline

Vicki Iovine: Girlfriends’ Guide To Parenting Your Parents: They Are So Hard To Discipline.

I only have one parent left out of two biologicals and two in-laws and I cherish her, honestly, I do. But after this week, I’m dangerously close to taking up smoking…..

Estate Tax: Senate Bill 722

The 2010 Congressional Budget Resolution recommends a personal estate tax exemption allowance of $3.5 million. The value of estates above that would be taxed at 45%. However, the language in the Budget Resolution does not provide for the “portability” of the $3.5 million allowance to a surviving spouse. Without “portability”, the proposed estate tax laws extend the existing married couple estate tax trap.

Existing estate tax rules

What is the existing married couple estate tax trap? Assume a husband and a wife each have property worth $2.5 million. The wife dies first and her will leaves $2.5 million of her assets to her surviving husband. When the husband dies, his estate now includes assets he owns and assets given him when his wife died. The estate tax value of the second spouse to die is $5 million. However, under existing tax laws, the second spouse to die can only claim his $3.5 million exemption. The estate would owe taxes on $1.5 million.

To avoid the married couple estate tax trap, many married couples spend time and money establishing an AB trust. The AB trust enables both couples to claim their $3.5 million tax exemption allowance, and exempts a total of $7 million from estate taxes.

Senate Bill 722

On March 26, 2009, Senator Max Baucus introduced the Taxpayer Certainty and Relief Act of 2009 (S. 722).

Senate Bill 722 provides “portability” of the estate-tax exemption allowance to the surviving spouse. Let’s take the same example. Assume a husband and a wife each have property worth $2.5 million. The wife dies first and her will leaves $2.5 million of assets to the surviving husband. When the husband dies, his estate now includes assets he owns and assets given him when his wife died. The estate tax value of the second spouse to die is $5 million. The “portability” of the estate tax exemption allowance would allow the surviving spouse to claim the $3.5 million exemption allowance available to the first spouse to die and his own $3.5 million exemption allowance.

The “portability” clause would exempt $7 million of the estate of a married couple  from any taxation. The value of estates above $7 million would be taxed at 45%. This portability would eliminate the need for married couples to set up an AB trust in order for each couple to claim their individual estate tax exemption allowance.