I received a call from an old colleague we’ll call “Max Walker” who was catching me up on life and work. He shared his latest victory, which was uncovering what I’ll call “time management abuse to the nth degree.” The worst thing about this case is that the abuse was committed in plain site by […]

Sometimes circumstances change in ways you never anticipated when signing your irrevocable trust. While you cannot reverse time, there are a few ways that you might be able to modify an irrevocable trust. This first part of a three-part series explores changes to irrevocable trusts using judicial and nonjudicial modification. The second part examines decanting, […]

The Academy is gearing up for our 2021 Fall Summit in San Diego, California this October. This will be our first in-person meeting in two years! We look forward to reuniting with our Members and their teams, meeting our VIP guests, and greeting our sponsors and returning speakers. Our Summit theme, In Good Company: Connections […]

When a taxpayer makes a charitable gift, typically they get an offsetting charitable income tax deduction. However, sometimes it doesn’t end up reducing their taxes. Normally, in order to take a charitable income tax deduction, the taxpayer needs to itemize their deductions. However, if the charitable contribution and other itemized deductions don’t exceed the standard […]

The world of online marketing moves at a breakneck pace as new apps and social networks are launched and used to consume content and make connections.  Despite all the new developments, video continues to be one of the most popular types of content, thus making video marketing more essential than ever for content creators. For […]

Sometimes, a family will have land and they want to keep it just the way it is. They don’t want the land developed. They want the family to continue to farm it just as they have for generations. In the right circumstances, a charitable conservation easement can be a useful tool to help achieve this […]

Paralegal. Receptionist. Legal assistant. Attorney. Custodian.We know what these positions entail, right? So why is it necessary to write a job description? After all, someone applying for any of these positions should already know what the core job responsibilities are or they wouldn’t be applying for them. Writing down the position’s job requirements takes valuable […]

Occasionally, those who aren’t Estate Planning attorneys will attempt to do their own Estate Planning. They think they can find a document online or use a friend’s document and can figure it out. Unfortunately, there are many pitfalls one could run across. Let’s look at three of these pitfalls which one must sidestep. Bill and […]

The Before I Die NM Festival, being held for the fifth consecutive year in New Mexico, breaks new ground with a combination of in-person/online series of events Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, 2021. Events are designed to prompt Baby Boomers and their Millennial children to plan ahead for end-of-life issues. The Before I Die Festival […]

This is the final article in a three-part series on the taxation of trusts. The first part reviewed how a trust can be “substantially owned” by someone, i.e., what is commonly known among Estate Planning or Trusts & Estates attorneys as a “grantor trust.” It also looked at the advantages of using a grantor trust. […]