Wealth Law Blog

Who Takes Care of Mom's Money?

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0800

Francine Russo wrote a recent Times article called "Who Takes Care of Mom?," addressing the challenges of sibling dynamics when providing care for aging parents. She wrote a personal account of making the wrong choices in allowing her sister to take on the burden of caring for their...

Beneficiary Designations - Clearing Up The Confusion

Michael Walker — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:00:00 -0800

In my experience, one of the most common areas of confusion in wealth and estate planning is beneficiary designations and their importance in many key areas. Many important assets in an individual’s portfolio often pass at that person’s death by beneficiary designation and not by that...

Don't Write Off Holographic Wills

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:00:00 -0800

A handwritten will may still be valid in a state that doesn’t normally recognize them, if you have the right facts. Many states (let’s label it “State A”) recognize that a will executed in a foreign state (“State B”), pursuant to the laws of State...

2010 Estate Tax Repeal: Married Couples -- Review Your Estate Plans!

Jeffrey Cheyne — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00:00 -0800

Now that Congress has repealed the estate tax for all or some portion of 2010, Oregon married couples need to rexamine whether or not their estate plan will work as they intended. For any couple with a net worth over $1 million, it is common to have a tax plan which divides the marital...

Estate Tax Legislative Update

Michael Walker — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:40:31 -0800

On January 20, 2010, the U.S. Senate took an unusual procedural step in placing HR 4154, the “Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Bill of 2009” directly on the Senate calendar. In taking this action, the Senate is in the position to completely...

Recent Legislation: Oregon Uniform Adult Guardianships

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:00:00 -0800

From time to time, we will publish blurbs on recent local court opinions and state legislation: Senate Bill 238 Oregon Senate Bill 238 enacts the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act. It is broken into five different articles that provide a uniform procedure...

Nurse Successfully Deducts Her MBA Tuition and Beats the IRS!

Jeffrey Cheyne — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:00:00 -0800

Lori Singleton-Clarke, a nurse from Maryland, accomplished two rare feats last month. She represented herself before the U.S. Tax Court and won. On January 11, 2010, a Wall Street Journal article featured Ms. Singleton-Clarke who successfully defended her $15,000 deduction for her M.B.A....

Recent Legislation: Elective Spouse Share

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:00:00 -0800

From time to time we will publish recent cases and legislation: House Bill 3077 (pdf) House Bill 3077 completely revamps the spousal elective share statute in Oregon. Oregon is one of several states to enact a more modern elective share statute which attempts to account for the...

Annual Gift Tax Exclusion Remains at $13,000 for 2010

Michael Walker — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:41:32 -0800

Late in 2009, the IRS announced that the annual gift tax exclusion will remain unchanged in 2010 at $13,000. Under the Tax Code, this amount is adjusted based upon the Consumer Price Index. The annual gift tax exclusion amount was last changed at the beginning of 2009 when...

2010 Estate Tax Repeal: It Is Official - For A While

Jeffrey Cheyne — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:00:00 -0800

On January 1, 2010, the federal estate tax was repealed for one year (2010) unless and until Congress decides to change the law. We don’t know how long the repeal will last, but the fact that the federal estate tax has been repealed for some part of 2010 complicates estate planning for...

Recent Legislation: Oregon Uniform Trust Code Revisions

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:00:32 -0800

From time to time, we will publish blurbs on recent local court opinions and state legislation: Oregon Senate Bill 371 Senate Bill 371 contains multiple, somewhat unrelated, amendments to ORS 130, which relates to trusts. The first significant amendment adds modification of the terms of a...

Recent WA Case: Insanity = No Inheritance

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:00:00 -0800

From time to time we will publish recent local cases or legislative bills: Man murdered his mother, stepbrother, and his mother's boyfriend. Jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity. The mother's estate then received money from a wrongful death case. In re...

2010 ESTATE TAX REPEAL STILL ON SCHEDULE!

Jeffrey Cheyne — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:36:21 -0800

On December 16, 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Democrats’ attempt to extend the Federal Estate Tax exemption of $3.5 million into 2010 has been blocked by the Republicans. Senator Max Baucus is quoted as saying, “We clearly will work to do this retroactively,...

What is a Fiduciary Litigator?

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:00:00 -0800

I am a civil trial attorney. More specifically, I am a fiduciary litigator. The problem is most people don't have a good working knowledge of what that means, since there are no popular television series about attorneys that handle litigation for individual trustees,...

ANOTHER STEP TOWARD ESTATE TAX REFORM - PATCH OR PERMANENT?

Jeffrey Cheyne — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:05:00 -0800

Since the passage of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act in 2001, clients and practitioners have been waiting for years for Congress to determine what happens to estate taxes after 2009. The Republicans hoped to completely repeal the estate tax. The Democrats wanted to keep...

Recent Legislation: Springing Power of Attorney

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0800

From time to time, we will publish blurbs on recent local court opinions and state legislation: Senate Bill 237 Senate Bill 237 amends ORS 127 and legally sanctions the use of a “springing” power of attorney. This means that a person may execute a power of attorney that indicates...

Family Fights: Top 5 Reasons Settlement Beats Litigation

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0800

Jay Folberg recently wrote the four page article, "Mediating Family Property and Estate Conflicts" in the ABA's December 2009 issue of Probate & Property. I've distilled it into the top five reasons why you want to heed his advice to mediate rather...

Recent Legislation: Oregon Wrongful Death Settlement

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0800

From time to time we will publish recent local cases or legislative bills: Oregon Senate Bill 403 Senate Bill 403 makes a very small amendment to ORS 30.030, which deals with the dispersal of damages received from a wrongful death action. Originally the remainder of damages from a wrongful...

Recent Ruling: Fed. Estate Tax Not Binding

Victoria Blachly — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0800

From time to time, we will publish blurbs on recent local court opinions and state legislation: Force v. Dep’t. of Rev., 2008 WL 5191844 (Or.Tax Magistrate Div.) (pdf) Background: Decedent’s personal representative completed federal and state estate tax returns...

New House Bill Would Reform Estate Tax

Michael Walker — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:17:16 -0800

On October 22nd, a bill to permanently extend the federal estate tax for 2010 and beyond was introduced by a bipartisan group of Congressional Representatives. All four Representatives are also members of the House Ways and Means Committee – the tax-writing committee in the...