Understanding the Differences Between a Will and a Trust

Everyone has heard the terms “will” and “trust,” but not everyone knows the differences between the two. Both are useful estate planning devices that serve different purposes, and both can work together to create a complete estate plan.

One main difference between a will and a trust is that a will goes into effect only after you die, while a trust takes effect as soon as you create it. A will is a document that directs who will receive your property at your death and it appoints a legal representative to carry out your wishes. By contrast, a trust can be used to begin distributing property before death, at death or afterwards. A trust is a legal arrangement through which one person (or an institution, such as a bank or law firm), called a “trustee,” holds legal title to property for another person, called a “beneficiary.” A trust usually has two types of beneficiaries — one set that receives income from the trust during their lives and another set that receives whatever is left over after the first set of beneficiaries dies.

A will covers any property that is only in your name when you die. It does not cover property held in joint tenancy or in a trust. A trust, on the other hand, covers only property that has been transferred to the trust. In order for property to be included in a trust, it must be put in the name of the trust.

Another difference between a will and a trust is that a will passes through probate. That means a court oversees the administration of the will and ensures the will is valid and the property gets distributed the way the deceased wanted. A trust passes outside of probate, so a court does not need to oversee the process, which can save time and money. Unlike a will, which becomes part of the public record, a trust can remain private.

Wills and trusts each have their advantages and disadvantages. For example, a will allows you to name a guardian for children and to specify funeral arrangements, while a trust does not. On the other hand, a trust can be used to plan for disability or to provide savings on taxes. As your elder law attorney I can tell you how best to use a will and a trust in your estate plan. Feel free to email me with any questions.

Regards, Brian

RAPHAN LAW

7 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001

Anthony Bourdain Left Loved Ones In Limbo But The Heirs Will End Up Better Than Michael Jackson’s

Via The Wealth Advisor Scott Martin Contributor

He lived on the edge and died without warning. The family needed a disaster plan to minimize strain in the worst moments and smooth the financial transition afterward. These are teachable moments.

Anthony Bourdain chased gusto all over the planet, occasionally tracking into war and disaster zones along the way. There were moments when he could’ve gotten in over his head and never come home.

A personal disaster plan would have been the responsible way to approach that kind of life. From the way news of his death spread last week, it’s fairly clear that level of forethought just wasn’t his style.

That’s a burden on those he left behind. At a moment when they’re already stunned and vulnerable, it’s up to them to make the hard decisions about managing the press, the authorities and the fans.

Let’s hope that his financial situation was in better shape. While the money will never bring him back, it can at least make life without him easier — provided of course it’s managed properly now.

The personal disaster plan

Enterprises, individual professionals and even well-run restaurants have succession plans. But while Bourdain’s life revolved around his personal participation in every venture, there’s no sign that the work can continue without him.

The TV show is unlikely to ever film again. There won’t be any new expeditions and no new episodes beyond what’s already ready to roll.

There won’t be any new books. There’s no archive of unreleased material waiting for a successor organization to release to bereaved fans.

And the window for him to ever open another restaurant has slammed shut. If he gave much thought to a creative executor to groom the intellectual property he built up in life, again, it would be a surprise.

Otherwise, that person or some other spokesperson he delegated would have stepped up to handle the announcements last week. Instead, everyone looked to Asia Argento, who was understandably shocked and stunned.

The family was quiet. His ex-wife isn’t active on public social media networks and their daughter is only 11. It was up to a colleague to find his body and his network to break the news to the world.

A lawyer, a financial advisor, an agent, a manager: someone could have been authorized to route messaging to the public and make absolutely sure nobody bothered the family.

That didn’t really happen here. There’s no crime in that beyond a missed opportunity to make a tidier transition, whether death comes by surprise or design.

And in the absence of any clear plan on that front, it remains to be seen whether there was a plan to keep his businesses afloat without his personal participation.

Bourdain never really created much of an institution around himself. The copyright on his books was never assigned to any trust, holding company or other entity. While he got production credit on his shows, the actual production company belonged to other people.

There’s no restaurant for his heirs to operate or sell off. He could’ve built a foodie empire to survive him, but evidently wasn’t interested.

His big dream, the Blade Runner themed global food court in New York, stalled last year. Whether that failure to create something lasting preyed on him, we just don’t know.

Again, that level of planning really wasn’t his style. Even if it could’ve made his heirs more comfortable down the road, we would’ve seen the hints years ago.

Healthier, maybe even wealthier

That said, there can be a morbid tinge to building a captive empire of intellectual property and operating businesses. Look at Michael Jackson, who was practically insolvent in life because he’d hoarded other people’s creative output as well as his own.

Jackson’s kids are reportedly billionaires now. He’s the best-selling musical artist in the world. But the cold equations of the estate forced the executors to sell off his songs and back catalog to pay the debts.

Bourdain’s books are seeing a similar posthumous bestseller effect now. Odds are good that ratings of unaired episodes will be the best ever. His daughter will get her piece of that income.

If he left a will — a big hypothetical, all in all — the rights and royalties may well go into a trust for her upkeep now and use when she’s an adult. Otherwise, the money flows into Unified Gifts To Minors Act (UGMA) accounts while the assets themselves sit in Unified Transfers To Minors Act (UGTA) accounts until she turns 18.

Unlike Michael Jackson’s kids, she has an immediate parental guardian to look out for her in the meantime. While mom and dad split up a few years ago, mom is definitely alive and well. As you’ll recall, she’s a professional kickboxer.

Reading between the lines, mom also got the $3 million New York condo as part of the split. She might already have all of the Bourdain cash as it is. Otherwise, sad to say, child support evaporates now.

Whatever Bourdain left behind for his daughter is that support. She can’t touch it for awhile. I hope he made arrangements for someone to monetize his legacy in the here and now.

With the right management, the Bourdain name and likeness stay vibrant and keep generating income. Maybe there actually are book drafts to polish, TV concepts to pitch. There might even be restaurant concepts looking for partners.

The potential here is vast. A creative and savvy executor can turn Bourdain’s name into the empire he never chased in life — maybe even a Michael Jackson scale franchise built on new approaches to food, new grocery models, who knows?

And without the $400 million debt hole Jackson’s heirs started with, right now Bourdain’s survivors are financially ahead of the game. I know it still hurts, but against the inevitability of pain sometimes the only thing we can do is stack the dollar signs.

When his daughter comes of age, she may pick up the family legacy. It belongs to her. That’s the best bequest of all.

 

How to Protect an IRA From Heirs’ Creditors

When a person declares bankruptcy, an individual retirement account (IRA) is one of the assets that is beyond the reach of creditors, but what about an IRA that has been inherited? Resolving a conflict between lower courts, the U.S. Supreme Court recently (and unanimously) ruled that funds held in an inherited IRA are not exempt from creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding because they are not really retirement funds. Clark v. Rameker (U.S., No. 13- 299, June 13, 2014).

This ruling has significant estate planning implications for those who intend to leave their IRAs to their children. If the child inherits the IRA and then declares bankruptcy sometime in the future, as a result of the Supreme Court ruling the child’s creditors could take the IRA funds. Fortunately, there is a way to still protect the IRA funds from a child’s potential creditors. The way to do this is to leave the IRA not to the child but to a “spendthrift” trust for the child, under which an independent trustee makes decisions as to how the trust funds may be spent for the benefit of the beneficiary. However, the trust cannot be a traditional revocable living trust; it must be a properly drafted IRA trust set up by an attorney who is familiar with the issues specific to inherited IRAs.

The impact of the Supreme Court’s ruling may be different in some states, such as Florida, that specifically exempt inherited IRAs from creditor claims. As Florida attorney Joseph S. Karp explains in a recent blog post, Florida’s rule protecting inherited IRAs will bump up against federal bankruptcy law, and no one knows yet which set of rules will prevail. While a debtor who lives in Florida could keep a creditor from attaching her inherited IRA, it is unknown whether that debtor would succeed in having her debts discharged in bankruptcy while still retaining an inherited IRA. We will have to wait for the courts to rule on this issue. In the meantime, no matter what state you are in, the safest course if you want to protect a child’s IRA from creditors is to leave it to a properly drafted trust.

Proving That a Transfer Was Not Made in Order to Qualify for Medicaid

Medicaid law imposes a penalty period if you transferred assets within five years of applying, but what if the transfers had nothing to do with Medicaid? It is difficult to do, but if you can prove you made the transfers for a purpose other than to qualify for Medicaid, you can avoid a penalty.

You are not supposed to move into a nursing home on Monday, give all your money away on Tuesday, and qualify for Medicaid on Wednesday. So the government looks back five years for any asset transfers, and levies a penalty on people who transferred assets without receiving fair value in return. This penalty is a period of time during which the person transferring the assets will be ineligible for Medicaid. The penalty period is determined by dividing the amount transferred by what Medicaid determines to be the average private pay cost of a nursing home in your state.

The penalty period can seem very unfair to someone who made gifts without thinking about the potential for needing Medicaid. For example, what if you made a gift to your daughter to help her through a hard time? If you unexpectedly fall ill and need Medicaid to pay for long-term care, the state will likely impose a penalty period based on the transfer to your daughter.

To avoid a penalty period, you will need to prove that you made the transfer for a reason other than qualifying for Medicaid. The burden of proof is on the Medicaid applicant and it can be difficult to prove. The following evidence can be used to prove the transfer was not for Medicaid planning purposes:

• The Medicaid applicant was in good health at the time of the transfer. It is important to show that the applicant did not anticipate needing long-term care at the time of the gift.
• The applicant has a pattern of giving. For example, the applicant has a history of helping his or her children when they are in need or giving annual gifts to family or charity.
• The applicant had plenty of other assets at the time of the gift. An applicant giving away all of his or her money would be evidence that the applicant was anticipating the need for Medicaid.
• The transfer was made for estate planning purposes or on the advice of an accountant.

Proving that a transfer was made for a purpose other than to qualify for Medicaid is difficult. If you innocently made transfers in the past and are now applying for Medicaid, consult with your elder law attorney. Medicaid Planning without a qualified attorney can lead to costly mistakes. To read more about common Medicaid Planning mistakes people make visit my website by clicking here.

Regards, Brian

 

No will or estate plan? Big problem for you and your heirs

Estate planning isn’t just for the wealthy. Financial advisors say that most Americans can benefit from it. Read on and see how you can benefit even if you are not worth millions.

Sarah O’Brien | CNBC  Tuesday, 9 Aug 2016 | 7:50 AM ETCNBC.com

About 10 years ago, financial advisor Andrew Rafal was involved in helping a husband and wife create an estate plan. Six days after all the documents were in order and signed, the husband unexpectedly died from an aneurysm.

Thanks to the couple’s planning, the surviving wife was able to access and assume ownership of assets that otherwise would not have been available immediately.

“It would have been a very different situation if they hadn’t finalized their estate plan,” said Rafal, founder and president of Bayntree Wealth Advisors. “In a time of grieving, it’s one less thing to go through.”

While estate planning is often associated with the wealthy, financial advisors say that most Americans can benefit from it.

Lee Edwards | Getty Images

“It’s not just for the wealthy; it’s for all of us,” Rafal said. “And the earlier you start, the better.”

The most basic part of estate planning is a will, which more than half of Americans die without, according to various data. Advisors caution that dying intestate (having no will) will result in a state court deciding who gets your assets and, if you have children, who will care for them.

This means that if you have an unmarried partner or a favorite charity but no will, your assets won’t end up with them. Typically, the courts will pass on assets to your closest blood relatives, even if that wouldn’t have been your first choice.

“Everyone should have a will,” Rafal said. “It allows assets to go to beneficiaries you name. And if you have children who are minors, it names a guardian, which is extremely important.”

“As people go through different milestones in life, they need to change their beneficiaries. The beneficiary trumps any other estate planning you do.”-Andrew Rafal, founder and president of Bayntree Wealth Advisors

Another often-overlooked element of estate planning is updating beneficiaries on financial assets such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans and life insurance policies. Regular bank accounts, too, should have beneficiaries listed on a payable-on-death form, also known as a POD, which your bank can supply.

“As people go through different milestones in life, they need to change their beneficiaries,” Rafal said, explaining, “If you had your parents listed and then you get married, those assets go to your parents. The beneficiary trumps any other estate planning you do.”

Certified financial planner Aaron Graham had a client who, after a divorce, updated his will to exclude his ex-wife. But because the client’s beneficiary designations were not updated, his ex-wife received his retirement account assets.

“Thankfully, the ex-wife was cooperative with the children of the deceased, but that’s not always the case,” said Graham, a financial advisor at Abacus Planning Group.

If no beneficiary is listed on those assets or the beneficiary has already passed away, the assets automatically go into probate. That’s the process by which all of your debt is paid off and then the remaining assets are distributed to heirs.

Each state has its own laws governing how long creditors have to make a claim against the decedent’s estate, but it typically is about six months to a year.

In the case of Rafal’s client, for instance, if the wife had not been listed as a beneficiary on her husband’s retirement and stock accounts, those assets would have first gone into probate and she would have had no claim to them until probate was completed.

Another part of estate planning involves what Rafal calls “lifetime management.” That is, for starters, creating legal documents that give powers of attorney to specific people in your life if you are alive but incapacitated.

A medical power of attorney lets the chosen person make important health-care decisions if you cannot; a person with durable power of attorney will act as your agent if you become unable to tend to your finances.

Granting your own wishes

Rafal said those people could be one and the same, but most often, people name two separate people.

“You might have someone who’s not great with finances but you trust the person to make medical decisions for you, or vice versa,” Rafal explained. “Durable power of attorney lets a person step in if you are unable to make decisions.”

Tied to that is a living will. It states your wishes if you are on life support or have a terminal condition.

“Do you want to prolong [your] life at all costs, or do you have specific instructions on when and how you would like for life-saving measures to be implemented?” Graham said.

The idea is that it will be your wishes, not someone else’s.

Have you made your annual financial checklist?

   WIN-Initative | Getty Images

As far as taxes go when it comes to estate planning, chances are, you won’t have to worry about the estate tax.

“It’s important to remember that 99 percent of all people don’t need to focus on the tax aspects of estate planning,” said Pete Lang, president of Lang Capital. “For the vast majority of the population, there will be no gift or estate tax.”

For 2016, the Internal Revenue Service will impose taxes on estates whose assets exceed $5.45 million. Roughly 0.02 percent of the population ends up paying the estate tax in any given year.

Estate planning also “helps protect against families fighting, or someone potentially contesting the wishes of the deceased,” Rafal said. “We’ve had new clients come to us who didn’t have proper planning, and their families have been torn apart.”

Rafal said it’s also important to make a list — handwritten or electronic — of all your assets and where they are.

“It makes it so much easier upon death or incapacity so your family isn’t running around wondering what you have or don’t have,” he said.

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE ESTATE PLANNING GUIDE >>>

It’s Official: Estate Exclusion to Rise to $5.45M in 2016

The IRS has announced that the basic estate tax exclusion amount for the estates of decedents dying during calendar year 2016 will be $5.45 million, up from $5.43 million for calendar year 2015.  This figure is in line with earlier projections.

Also, if the executor chooses to use the special use valuation method for qualified real property, the aggregate decrease in the value of the property resulting from the choice cannot exceed $1,110,000, up from $1,100,000 for 2015.

The increase in the estate tax exclusion means that the lifetime tax exclusion for gifts will also rise to $5.45 million, as will the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption. The annual gift tax exclusion will remain at $14,000 for 2016.

For details on many of these and other inflation adjustments to tax benefits, go to:https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-15-53.pdf

[More on Estate Planning]

[Ten Reasons to Create an Estate Plan Now]

Regards,

Brian

 

ELDER ABUSE: FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION FOR $797,000

Another case handled by Brian A. Raphan, P.C. was on the Cover Page of the New York Law Journal last week.

I was appointed as Special Referee by the Supreme Court of the State of New York to perform a forensic review of Nassau County attorney Martha Brosius’ handling of a senior citizen’s financial affairs. Brian uncovered many undocumented and improper financial transactions and filed his detailed analysis to the Court.  As a result of my report, criminal actions were commenced against attorney Brosius, which ultimately led to a guilty plea. Brosius now faces 6-12 years behind bars.  Of course, she will lose her license to practice law.  Another win for the good guys!

The article is provided below.

*As appeared Front Page of the New York Law Journal 6/25/15, By Andrew Denney, The New York Law Journal ATTORNEY ADMITS TO TAKING $797,000 FROM CLIENTS A Long Island elder law attorney has admitted to embezzling more than $797,000 from her clients over a four-year period, the Queens District Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday. Martha Brosius, 52, of Brosius & Associates of Great Neck, appeared Tuesday before Acting Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty and pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree grand larceny and one count of scheme to defraud, according to a news release from Queens District Attorney Richard Brown’s Office. “The defendant has admitted to breaching her fiduciary duty and unjustly enriching herself at the expense of her client,” Brown said in the release. Brosius was indicted for the offenses in 2013. Her clients included a 77-year-old man who had been deemed mentally incapable and for whom Brosius served as legal guardian, as well as two brothers who retained Brosius to sell their deceased father’s estate and establish a special-needs trust for their disabled sister, who was the sole heir to the father’s estate. Brosius is scheduled to appear before Gugerty on Aug. 12 for sentencing. Gugerty has indicated that her prison sentence would range between four and 12 years. Brosius is a graduate of the St. John’s University School of Law and was admitted to the bar in 2003. According to the Office of Court Administration website, she has not been publicly disciplined. Her guilty plea will subject her to mandatory disbarment. Assistant District Attorneys James Liander and Yvonne Francis appeared for the Queens District Attorney’s Office. • • • “Improper use of an adult’s funds, property, or resources by another individual is elder abuse. This includes, but is not limited to, fraud, embezzlement, forgery, falsifying records, coerced property transfers, or denial of access to assets.”   TO REPORT FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION OF ELDERS IN NY STATE Click Here. Or Call 844-697-3505 FOR THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S PRESS RELEASE Click Here.

5 Tips for Arranging and Paying for a Home Health Aide:

-By Emily Garnett, Associate Attorney at Brian A. Raphan, P.C.

Finding oneself or a family member in need of home care can be a tough pill to swallow. It is often difficult to accept that you or a loved one is no longer able to safely do many of the activities of daily living that you once could. At that point, it may be time to bring in a home health aide for assistance with a wide variety of activities of daily living.

1. How to Arrange Help and Payment: Many people choose to privately pay for home health aides. If you choose to go this route, you can utilize a long-term home health care program (LTHHCP). These are agencies accredited by the state that provide home health aides. They manage the staffing and payroll. However, you can also choose to select aides that are privately paid, and work outside of an LTHHCP agency. For these aides, you would have to manage staffing and payroll issues yourself, or utilize the expertise of an elder law attorney or geriatric care manager to manage these details.

2. Using Medicaid to Pay: If you are unable to privately pay for home care, you have the option of applying for Medicaid to obtain coverage for long-term home care. It is advised that you work with an elder law attorney or other professional to facilitate this process, as it can be complicated, and the regulations are frequently changing. In order to qualify for Medicaid, the applicant must meet certain requirements for income and assets. The current Medicaid asset limit is $14,550.00, and the monthly income limit is $809.00. Unlike nursing home Medicaid, there is no look-back period for community Medicaid, meaning that Medicaid is not going to investigate past money transfers like they would for an application for nursing home coverage. There are several ways to address the income and asset limits required for Medicaid acceptance, the most common being the use of pooled trusts to shelter those funds. Pooled trusts are frequently used to meet the Medicaid spend-down, which is the requirement that an applicant reduce his or her available income so that it remains under the Medicaid limit.

3. Shelter your Income: Once an individual applies for Medicaid coverage, he or she can join a third party pooled trust to shelter the excess income and meet the spend-down. These trusts allow the individual to use the funds sheltered in the trust for personal needs outside of the Medicaid coverage, including expenses like rent, utilities, and phone bills. If this arrangement is not made, the applicant runs the risk of rejection by Medicaid or having to privately pay for some part of his or her home care each month.

4. Enrollment for Managed Long Term Care: Once you have applied for and been approved for Medicaid, you will work with your elder law attorney or specialist to enroll in a managed long-term care program (MLTC), which will provide home care services. The first step in this process is assessment by a new program, the Conflict-Free Eligibility and Enrollment Center (CFEEC), sometimes also referred to as “Maximus”. This assessment takes about two hours and provides a determination to Medicaid that the consumer is eligible for home care services. At that point, the consumer selects a managed long term care plan to enroll in. The MLTC plan then schedules a second assessment, also lasting about two hours, in which the specific care needs of the consumer are assessed. At the conclusion of this assessment, the nurse performing the assessment will submit the information to Medicaid, who will ultimately determine the number of hours of home care needed each day by the consumer. This process is very time-sensitive, so work closely with your Medicaid attorney assisting with the application process, to avoid costly and unnecessary delays.

5. Keeping Your Ongoing Benefits: Once the application process is complete, your home care will likely start on or around the first of the following month. At that point, your obligations as a consumer are to maintain the income and asset limits, including utilization of a pooled trust if needed. You will be required to annually re-certify with Medicaid that you have maintained these levels. Should you have questions at that point, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Medicaid planning attorney, rather than risk losing your Medicaid benefits. It is worth noting, however, that occasionally delays arise in various points of the application process through no fault of the attorney or applicant. Should you find yourself in such a position, understand that these issues do arise, and make sure to cooperate with your attorney or specialist’s advocacy efforts towards resolution.

Emily Garnett, Esq.

The Law Offices of Brian A. Raphan, P.C. 7 Penn Plaza, Suite 810 New York, NY 10001 T: (212) 268-8200

“Helping Senior New Yorkers for over 25 Years”

Legal DIY Web Sites Are No Match for a Pro, Consumer Reports Concludes

After road testing three leading Web sites that help you create your own will, power of attorney, and other important legal documents, Consumer Reports has concluded that none of the will-writing products is likely to entirely meet your needs unless those needs are extremely simple.

The independent non-profit testing agency evaluated three online services: LegalZoom, Nolo, and Rocket Lawyer. Using online worksheets or downloads, researchers created a will, a car bill of sale for a seller, a home lease for a small landlord, and a promissory note. They then asked three law professors — including Gerry W. Beyer of Texas Tech University School of Law, who specializes in estates and trusts — to review in a blind test the processes and resulting documents.

In his evaluation of the will-making programs, Prof. Beyer said that two of them could create good simple wills but he found deficiencies in all three, including features that could lead a user to add clauses that contradict other parts of the will.

Consumer Reports’ verdict?   “Using any of the three services is generally better than drafting the documents yourself without legal training or not having them at all. But unless your needs are simple—say, you want to leave your entire estate to your spouse—none of the will-writing products is likely to entirely meet your needs. And in some cases, the other documents aren’t specific enough or contain language that could lead to ‘an unintended result,’ in [a professor’s] words,”

An article on the study, titled “Legal DIY websites are no match for a pro,” appeared in Consumer Reports.  To read it, click here.

Consumer Reports’ findings accord with ElderLawAnswers’ own evaluation of online estate planning programs. For their White Paper on these programs, click here.

For a FREE DOWNLOAD : GUIDE TO ESTATE PLANNING click here.

WHY IRREVOCABLE TRUSTS VS OUTRIGHT GIFTING

People often wonder about the value of using irrevocable trusts in Medicaid planning. Certainly gifting of assets can be done outright, not involving an irrevocable trust. Outright gifts have the advantages of being simple to do with minimal costs involved.

So, why complicate things with a trust? Why not just keep the planning as simple and inexpensive as possible?

The short answer is that gift transaction costs are only part of what needs to be considered. Many important benefits that can result from gifting in trust are forfeited by outright gifting. These benefits are what give value to using irrevocable trusts in Medicaid planning.

Key benefits of gifting in trust are:

1. -Asset protection from future creditors of beneficiaries. Preservation of the exclusion of capital gain upon sale of the Settlors’ principal residence (the Settlor is the person making the trust).
2. -Preservation of step-up of basis upon death of the trust Settlors o Ability to select whether the Settlors or the beneficiaries of the trust will be taxable as to trust income.
3. -Ability to design who will receive the net distributable income generated in the trust.
4. -Ability to make assets in the trust non-countable in regard to the beneficiaries’ eligibility for means-based governmental benefits, such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
5. -Ability to specify certain terms and incentives for beneficiaries’ use of trust assets.
6. -Ability to decide (through the settlors’ other estate planning documents) which beneficiaries will receive what share, if any, of remaining trust assets after the settlers die.
7. -Ability to determine who will receive any trust assets after the deaths of the initial beneficiaries.
8. -Possible avoidance of need to file a federal gift tax return due to asset transfer to the trust.

If you have questions about any of the above items, please call me, Brian A. Raphan, Esq at 212-268-8200 or 800-278-2960. There are additional measures available and your individual situation should be assessed before making any financial decision.