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Full-Text Articles in Estates and Trusts
Estate Tax Repeal: Through The Looking Glass, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Estate Tax Repeal: Through The Looking Glass, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Grayson McCouch
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 promises dramatic reductions in income and estate taxes over a nine-year phase-in period, culminating in 2010 with complete repeal of the estate tax and introduction of a new carryover basis regime for inherited property. The Act's sunset provision automatically terminates these substantive changes at the end of 2010 and reinstates prior law for 2011 and subsequent years. In effect, the sunset provision transforms the large-scale tax cuts into a temporary measure and leaves open the question of whether to make those cuts permanent. Since the Act was signed into law, …
Estate Tax Repeal: Through The Looking Glass, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Estate Tax Repeal: Through The Looking Glass, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Karen Burke
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 promises dramatic reductions in income and estate taxes over a nine-year phase-in period, culminating in 2010 with complete repeal of the estate tax and introduction of a new carryover basis regime for inherited property. The Act's sunset provision automatically terminates these substantive changes at the end of 2010 and reinstates prior law for 2011 and subsequent years. In effect, the sunset provision transforms the large-scale tax cuts into a temporary measure and leaves open the question of whether to make those cuts permanent. Since the Act was signed into law, …
Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Karen Burke
Family partnerships have been become increasingly popular as a means of avoiding estate and gift taxes. As other estate freezing techniques have been closed off by statutory anti-abuse rules, estate planners have increasingly resorted to partnerships as a vehicle for transferring assets within a family at deeply discounted values. Discounts ranging from one-third to over one-half of the value of the underlying assets are routinely claimed, and often allowed, based on lack of marketability and lack of control, even where these disabilities have no lasting or ascertainable economic effect. Nevertheless, the use of family partnerships to suppress value for transfer …
Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Grayson McCouch
Family partnerships have been become increasingly popular as a means of avoiding estate and gift taxes. As other estate freezing techniques have been closed off by statutory anti-abuse rules, estate planners have increasingly resorted to partnerships as a vehicle for transferring assets within a family at deeply discounted values. Discounts ranging from one-third to over one-half of the value of the underlying assets are routinely claimed, and often allowed, based on lack of marketability and lack of control, even where these disabilities have no lasting or ascertainable economic effect. Nevertheless, the use of family partnerships to suppress value for transfer …
Tax Recognition, Barry Cushman
Tax Recognition, Barry Cushman
Barry Cushman
This article was prepared for the St. Louis University Law Journal’s “Teaching Trusts & Estates” issue. Many law students take a course in Trusts & Estates, but comparatively few enroll in a class devoted to the federal wealth transfer taxes. For most law students, the Trusts & Estates course provides the only opportunity for exposure to some of the basic features of the estate tax, the gift tax, the generation-skipping transfer tax, and some related features of the income tax. The coverage demands of the typical Trusts & Estates course do not allow for intensive discussion of these issues, but …
What Leona Helmsley Can Teach Us About The Charitable Deduction, Ray D. Madoff
What Leona Helmsley Can Teach Us About The Charitable Deduction, Ray D. Madoff
Ray D. Madoff
When Leona Helmsley, the New York hotel and real estate heiress, died in August 2007, she left a will naming both human and canine beneficiaries. However, one of the unnamed beneficiaries of this estate plan is surely the body of scholars interested in studying the role of philanthropy in the United States. By directing that an estimated $8 billion be used for the benefit of dogs, Mrs. Helmsley brought into high relief policy issues regarding the appropriateness of the unlimited charitable deduction, particularly as it applies to perpetual private foundations.
Taxing Personhood: Estate Taxes And The Compelled Commodification Of Identity, Ray D. Madoff
Taxing Personhood: Estate Taxes And The Compelled Commodification Of Identity, Ray D. Madoff
Ray D. Madoff
In this Article, Professor Madoff explores the ways in which the blunt tools of the wealth tax, and in particular the estate tax, uses a one-size-fits-all system to impose a tax on all property interests owned at the time of one’s death. Professor Madoff illustrates the ways in which these blunt tools can produce problematic results by examining their application to the right of publicity, a newly recognized property interest. Professor Madoff suggests that the imposition of the estate tax can force the commodification of an individual’s identity, regardless of one’s desire to refrain from marketing their identity, and explores …
The Impact On The Marital Deduction Of Expenses Chargeable To Post-Mortem Income: Does United States V. Stapf Answer The Question?, Martha W. Jordan
The Impact On The Marital Deduction Of Expenses Chargeable To Post-Mortem Income: Does United States V. Stapf Answer The Question?, Martha W. Jordan
Martha W. Jordan
During the 1996-97 tern, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Estate of Hubert v. Commissioner, which concerns issues of extreme importance to estate tax practitioners. The Court granted certiorari in Hubert to resolve a split of authority among the circuits regarding whether administration expenses allocable to post mortem income reduce the marital deduction. Since the tax court first adopted the pro-taxpayer position endorsed by the Eleventh Circuit in Hubert, commentators have been analyzing, supporting and justifying the tax court's position. This article uses the Court's reasoning in United States v. Stapf to predict the Court's resolution of the issues …
Sales Of Remainder Interests: Reconciling Gradow V. United States And Section 2702, Martha W. Jordan
Sales Of Remainder Interests: Reconciling Gradow V. United States And Section 2702, Martha W. Jordan
Martha W. Jordan
This article seeks to answer the question of whether the sale of a remainder interest for its actuarial value is exempt from transfer tax. Generally, when a taxpayer sells property for its fair market value, the taxpayer has been adequately compensated and, therefore, should not be subject to transfer tax. The sale of a remainder interest, however, raises various questions that are not present when property is sold outright. The sale of a remainder interest divides the underlying property into two split-interests: the remainder interest and the retained or present interest. The fair market value of split-interests is commonly determined …