Recent Blog Posts
New IRA Rules – Potential Losses of Tax Deferral
The old rules involving the transferring of your IRA to one of your children, spouse, partner or siblings has changed. The ability of deferring your IRA income over the remaining life time of a majority of beneficiaries has changed to 10 years. Thus, the ability to continue to defer the taxing (non-ROTH) of your… Read More »
Before You Sign – Read Carefully
There is an old saying “there is no free lunch.” Recently, I have been bombarded with cards requesting my presence at a lunch or dinner to learn about retirement products called equity indexed annuities and indexed universal life insurance contracts. The name of the products is a mystery and not well understood by most… Read More »
Should I Deed My Homestead to My Trust
Should I deed my homestead to my trust frequently comes up as a question along with whether a person should have a trust prepared for them. In this article we’re going to focus on whether it is better to title your homestead property into your trust should you presently have one or are planning… Read More »
Pay on Death & Transfer on Death Bank Accounts
The manner of transferring wealth following the death of a patriarch is occurring more frequently like a life insurance policy; its called TOD, POD or ITF. The initials stand for, Transfer on Death (TOD); Pay on Death (POD); and, In Trust For (ITF) depending on which financial institution you use. The outcome of each… Read More »
Basic Medicaid Planning
The costs to go into a nursing facility can easily wipe out a person’s savings. Should you be in a situation where institutional care is required (e.g. broken hip or dementia) and you want to divert as much of your savings to your children as is possible but not give up the medical care… Read More »
Trust Distribution From Special Needs Trusts
The old Bacardi and Berlinger cases have once again raised their heads as parents try to insulate their children from having to pay child or alimony payments. As you may recall, the Supreme Court of the State of Florida and the Second District Court of Appeal agreed that attempts to prevent the payment of… Read More »
IRA Basics (In Case You Are Not Sure How It Works)
When Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) were first introduced in the late 1970’s it was generally understood you could place $4,000.00 into a tax deferred account and at some time in the future you would get it back following retirement. That’s about all we knew; fast forward 40 years and how IRA investments work when… Read More »
Avoiding Out of State Taxation When Moving to Florida
I often get asked from individuals who move from the North to Florida what will be the tax implications when Florida becomes their permanent domicile. Under ordinary circumstances the impact is none, but there are always surprises which can be avoided provided you know how a change in domicile is viewed by your old… Read More »
CAN I DEVISE MY PROPERTY TO ANYONE?
I frequently have questions from clients who ask if they can devise their property to anyone? The short answer to that question is generally yes; but, with some thoughts about the consequences of doing so. Many times, this comes down to whether siblings, children or a spouse are still alive at the time of… Read More »
IT’S PROPERTY TAX SEASON – TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY A TAX CERTIFICATE
It’s property tax time and in some cases the payment of one’s property tax is not accomplished either because the tax is greater than the value of the property or the owners abandoned the property for personal reasons. When this happens, the County Tax Collector in Florida has the right to put the property… Read More »
