Tax laws seem to regularly change, and clients face estate and tax planning challenges in the face of that uncertainty. For the last few years, estate and tax planners had one issue in mind: the scheduled “sunset” of the high estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions at the end of 2025. But the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act proposes to keep the exemptions high. It remains to be seen whether this bill will pass, and whether its terms will be “permanent” or s...
Jun 18, 2025•12 min•Ep. 44
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act being considered by Congress serves as a reminder of the uncertainty of tax law. Although tax law should not be the only consideration in an estate and legacy plan, clients should adopt such plans with tax issues in mind — which is difficult because tax laws often change. In a recent episode, “Countdown to Sunset 2025: Planning in the Face of Scheduled Changes in the Law,” Steve reviewed the possibility that estate and gift tax exclusions could “sunset” at the end ...
Jun 05, 2025•12 min•Ep. 43
The last two episodes discussed the challenges everyone faces with being purposeful and productive throughout the day. Part 3 of this series continues the exploration of this topic through the metaphor of golf and other golf-like activities. This episode examines the metaphor of finalizing and polishing projects with care and using self-reflection to build positive habits for the future.
May 22, 2025•15 min•Ep. 42
As discussed in the last episode, a common feature of daily life seems to be that everyone in the family is busy, and everyone struggles with being productive. Part 2 of this series explores more lessons from sports — particularly golf — for identifying the most important things to work on and staying productive throughout the day.
May 05, 2025•12 min•Ep. 41
One common feature of daily life in every generation is that everyone is busy and struggles with being productive. This episode explores lessons from sports — in particular, golf — as a metaphor for helping us start our day in a way that makes it productive and meaningful.
Apr 17, 2025•12 min•Ep. 40
There are numerous ways to give or leave assets to beneficiaries, and each structure should be carefully tailored to be consistent with the client’s goals. Three common goals for estate planning are to protect, manage and preserve assets. This episode explores ways to structure asset protection, asset management and asset preservation trusts to balance access, control and flexibility.
Apr 03, 2025•9 min•Ep. 39
There is a lot of talk about fostering the right “mindset” to facilitate personal growth and fulfilment. The most popular seems to be a “growth mindset,” compared to a “fixed mindset.” This episode explores a related concept — that of a “legacy mindset.” The legacy mindset is a mindset directed at an individual’s legacy or effect on people, institutions, or ideas. This episode considers the value of a legacy mindset, and it provides some thoughts on how to identify and develop your legacy mindse...
Mar 20, 2025•13 min•Ep. 38
Estate plans and lifetime gifts are often based on discretionary distributions to beneficiaries. But famed investor Warren Buffett and movie star Ashton Kutcher have suggested an alternative, in which beneficiaries do not receive gifts – instead, those beneficiaries can take out a loan from a trust, or can ask a trust to make an investment in a beneficiary’s venture. This episode explores this concept, called a “family bank” or “family venture capital fund.” This structure can be used to facilit...
Mar 05, 2025•16 min•Ep. 37
An estate plan often involves establishing an irrevocable trust for certain beneficiaries. But when circumstances change, clients wonder if the benefits no longer justify the costs of keeping the assets in a trust. Before moving to terminate a trust, however, parties should consider carefully whether the purposes of the trust would best be served through termination, if termination is permitted, what might be some available alternatives and how to move forward to make sure all parties are inform...
Jan 23, 2025•18 min•Ep. 36
Many clients ask whether and when to share the estate plan with beneficiaries. Even after a client’s death, during the administration of an estate or trust, executors and trustees often ask the same questions about how much to share with beneficiaries. Communicating this estate plan can have important practical, moral and legal benefits in making sure the plan is carried out in the right way while fostering family unity and reducing tension or disagreement. In this episode, Steve draws on the le...
Dec 17, 2024•12 min•Ep. 35
On this podcast, Steve often explores ways to establish and administer trusts to facilitate productive and healthy beneficiaries. This episode explores a particular structure to further this goal: a “beneficiary well-being trust,” now authorized under Delaware law. A beneficiary well-being trust authorizes, and could require, the trustee to provide programs for the beneficiary regarding any number of subjects, including financial literacy, investments, mental health, and family history and legac...
Dec 10, 2024•14 min•Ep. 34
There are many ways for a client to incorporate charitable giving into planning, during life and upon death. That charitable giving can be a significant part of the client’s legacy, and it can result in tax advantages. Many of the exemptions that apply for gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax are adjusted for inflation each year. In this episode, Murphy will review those exemptions and the adjustments for inflation in 2025 and discuss some strategies for efficient use of those exemp...
Nov 26, 2024•9 min•Ep. 33
There are many ways for a client to incorporate charitable giving into planning, during life and upon death. That charitable giving can be a significant part of the client’s legacy, and it can result in tax advantages. In a prior episode, Murphy discussed outright gifts and gift agreements. But some clients are not ready to decide which charities to benefit, nor when and how. For those clients, a donor-advised fund (DAF) might be a good option. In a DAF, the client transfers funds to a fund with...
Oct 30, 2024•16 min•Ep. 32
Many clients ask about generation-skipping planning, or dynastic planning – ways to benefit future generations in a tax-efficient way. This episode reminds listeners of the scheduled “sunset” of the GST tax exemption at the end of 2025 and steps to consider in light of those changes in the law. Donors, beneficiaries and trustees should take this opportunity to make sure all their records are complete regarding the GST tax status of any trusts. Steve recently wrote about these concepts in the ACT...
Oct 11, 2024•12 min•Ep. 31
A significant change in tax law is scheduled to occur at the end of 2025: effective January 1, 2026, the estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions, currently $10 million per person (to be indexed for inflation), are scheduled to be cut in half, to $5 million (to be indexed for inflation). Starting in 2026, the ability for individuals to make tax-free gifts is scheduled to effectively be cut in half. Many clients are concerned about this scheduled change in the law, and they ar...
Sep 25, 2024•18 min•Ep. 30
Clients often ask about ways to incorporate charitable giving into their planning, during life and upon death. Charitable giving can be an important part of the client’s legacy and can have tax advantages as well. There are a number of strategies, but the simplest option is as an outright gift. But outright gifts might be simple to a fault — once the funds are in the charity’s hands, the donor might not have any ability to question the use of the funds, including if the charity dissolves. This e...
Sep 12, 2024•11 min•Ep. 29
On this podcast, Steve talks about the best methods and structures to transfer wealth to ensure that the funds are used for their intended purposes. He also talks about ways to pass along values to beneficiaries or the next generation — values like hard work, humility, responsibility and respect. In this episode, Steve explores how golf (or activities like golf) can be a great environment for passing along those values.
Aug 14, 2024•19 min•Ep. 28
In this litigious and uncertain world, clients are increasingly concerned about asset protection — how to make sure assets are used for their intended purposes and for the benefit of the intended beneficiaries and not diverted to a creditor or other third party. Clients are not only concerned about formal creditors, they are also concerned about individuals who learn about the assets and seek to take advantage of the beneficiary. Trusts and gifts, if properly structured, can provide significant ...
Jul 30, 2024•12 min•Ep. 27
On this episode we talk about the potential advantages of transferring wealth, but also the potential pitfalls — and the terrible irony that transferring wealth in the wrong way, at the wrong times or for the wrong reasons can sometimes have negative consequences. In this episode, we explore the sad situation of a beneficiary who suffers from substance abuse. In this case, the donor may fear that a gift or trust might enable destructive behavior. But if structured in the right way in terms of ac...
Jul 09, 2024•15 min•Ep. 26
Many clients ask about a particular kind of trust called a “dynasty trust,” “perpetuities trust” or “generation-skipping trust.” There is no set way to draft these types of trusts — rather, these terms only emphasize the intent of the trust to benefit future generations. This episode discusses those trusts — or rather, their common features or elements, and how to incorporate these aspects into the terms of a trust related to access, control and flexibility. The episode also addresses options fo...
Jun 25, 2024•13 min•Ep. 25
On this podcast, Steve has emphasized that the estate plan is designed to carry out the intent of the testator or settlor. With that in mind, it is especially important for the client to communicate those wishes, so that the trustee, beneficiaries and other interested parties understand the settlor’s intent in situations that might arise, such as a beneficiary’s request for funds to purchase a home or for the beneficiary’s support or education. Sometimes the trust document is not the ideal place...
Jun 11, 2024•14 min•Ep. 24
For parents with young children, naming the guardian who will raise their children upon the parents’ passing can be one of the most important and foundational questions of an estate plan. And in fact, because this decision is so personal and important, many clients find it daunting — and as a result, they might delay making the decision, or even delay putting in place their estate plan altogether. This episode explores some common questions about the naming of a guardian and provides helpful tip...
May 28, 2024•10 min•Ep. 23
On this podcast, we talk about the importance of flexibility in irrevocable trusts and estate planning. Once a trust is irrevocable, we can explore methods to modify that trust to address changed circumstances. But in the planning process, we can look ahead and build flexibility into the documents so that even after the testator’s passing, the plan can be updated in the future. One common method to build in flexibility is to give a person a power, called a “power of appointment,” that enables th...
May 14, 2024•14 min•Ep. 22
As we have discussed on this podcast, legacy planning is not just about transferring money. It’s also about transferring values and relationships. And often the transfer of specific property goes hand-in-hand with the fostering of those values and relationships. To this end, many clients hope to pass along a family vacation home, farm or other gathering place to future generations. Practitioners and advisers often refer to this as the “family cottage.” The idea is certainly attractive. And if tr...
Apr 30, 2024•19 min•Ep. 21
Many clients like the idea of helping a child, grandchild or other beneficiary with the purchase of a home to give the person a “head start” and a sense of independence. But this kind of transfer can have unanticipated, adverse consequences. This episode explores options and best practices for structuring transfers from a tax and non-tax perspective, and discusses how a trust may provide for such a purchase even after the client’s passing.
Apr 16, 2024•10 min•Ep. 20
Because each donor is treated as a separate party for tax and other purposes, donors often involve others in making gifts. For example, a donor might transfer assets to his or her spouse, so the spouse actually makes the gift for tax purposes. These transfers might be especially important, given the possible “sunset” of current gift, estate and GST tax exemptions at the end of 2025. However, the manner and timing of those transfers should be carefully structured so the transaction is respected. ...
Apr 02, 2024•13 min•Ep. 19
This podcast often discusses the elements of a trust, and how to grant access, control and flexibility to beneficiaries and trustees. But for tax and other purposes, the donor typically cannot retain those kinds of powers. Interestingly, the donor often can set up a trust for the benefit of a spouse, and grant the spouse that kind of access, control and flexibility — Episode 11 discussed that concept, the spousal lifetime access trust or SLAT. A popular scenario involves each spouse setting up a...
Mar 19, 2024•10 min•Ep. 18
In previous episodes, we discussed the exemptions that apply for gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax. Many of these exemptions are adjusted for inflation each year. In Episode 16, we’ll review those exemptions and the adjustment for inflation in 2024, and we will look ahead to some potential changes in the law at the end of 2025. Summary and transcript: https://media.mcguirewoods.com/events/2024/Legacy-Planning-Once-Removed-Ep16.pdf
Jan 09, 2024•7 min•Ep. 16
The beginning of the year is a good time to think about annual gifts to descendants and other beneficiaries. Episode 17 will walk through some options to make efficient use of annual gifting and also address some potential pitfalls. Summary and transcript: https://media.mcguirewoods.com/events/2024/Legacy-Planning-Once-Removed-Ep17.pdf
Jan 09, 2024•11 min•Ep. 17
For this podcast and in general, we think a lot about wealth and the transfer of wealth. Of course, we should define “wealth” broadly, to include not just money and property, but also relationships, values, history and wisdom. On this podcast in particular, we talk about ways to transfer wealth to encourage and foster the right kinds of values and behavior, rather than enabling the worst kinds. This is a difficult and complex process. In this episode, Steve explores one type of person, whom he c...
Jan 07, 2024•8 min•Ep. 15
