Law Commons^™

Estate Planning For Cannabis Business Owners: An Introduction, Bridget J. Crawford, Jonathan G. Blattmachr

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

As more states legalize cannabis sales, estate planners may increasingly be called upon to advise clients with interests in cannabis-related businesses. This essay seeks to assist estate planners in two ways. First, it aims to raise general awareness of cannabis business owners' unique concerns. Second, the essay provides an overview of some of the fundamental issues about which cannabis business owners are likely to seek estate planning advice: business formation matters, wealth transfers, the ability of trusts to own cannabis-related businesses, and gift, estate, and income tax considerations.

In most states that permit legal cannabis sales, there is limited (or …

Basis And Bargain Sales: Income Tax And Other Concerns, Bridget J. Crawford, Jonathan G. Blattmachr

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In this article, the authors explain the income tax consequences of the sale during lifetime and at death of property for less than fair market value. The authors focus in particular on the tax consequences of a bargain sale by a transferor who wishes to confer some financial benefit on a family member, but leave the rest of her estate to charity. Generally speaking, death-time bargain sales may be preferable to similar transactions during lifetime, if the assets have a low basis pre-death, because of the step up in income tax basis under section 1014. The authors also discuss in …

The Critical Tax Project, Feminist Theory, And Rewriting Judicial Opinions, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Introduction to Symposium on Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Tax Opinions.

Valuation, Values, Norms: Proposals For Estate And Gift Tax Reform, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In their contributions to this Symposium, Professor Joseph Dodge, Professor Wendy Gerzog, and Professor Kerry Ryan offer concrete proposals for improving the existing estate and gift tax system. Professor Dodge and Professor Gerzog are especially interested in accuracy in valuation, and advance specific proposals with respect to split-interest transfers and family limited partnerships. Professor Dodge makes an additional proposal to improve the generation-skipping transfer tax system, an understudied area of the law. Professor Gerzog's Symposium contribution draws particular attention to the legal fiction on which the estate and gift tax marital deductions rely. She would restrict the availability of the …

Portability, Marital Wealth Transfers, And The Taxable Unit, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Prior to 2011, the most efficient estate tax planning for married couples required a minimal level of asset equalization. In order to take maximum advantage of all existing wealth transfer tax exemptions and credits, each spouse needed to own, in an estate tax sense, enough assets to be able to fully utilize the estate tax credit or applicable exemption. This changed with the enactment of estate tax portability in the Economic Growth and Economic Recovery and Relief Act of 2011, which became permanent under the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. “Portability” refers to the ability of a surviving spouse …

Sticky Copyrights: Discriminatory Tax Restraints On The Transfer Of Intellectual Property, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article focuses on the federal estate and gift tax treatment of copyright termination rights. The ability of a creative individual to terminate prior copyright transfers serves to protect against economic exploitation. Once a copyright's value has been established in the marketplace, the author (or the author's heirs) enjoys a "second look" at the gift, sale, license or other transfer of a copyright. But copyright termination rights--intended to enhance the economic well-being of authors and artists--undermine estate planning strategies available to owners of other types of property. There is no policy justification for such discrimination, and so this Article proposes …

How Low Can You Go? Some Consequences Of Substituting A Lower Afr Note For A Higher Afr Note, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Instead of paying off a high-interest-rate note to a family member with cash or with non-cash assets that might result in the recognition of gain, it appears possible for a borrower to issue a new note at the lower current AFR and substitute it for the old note, without adverse tax consequences. Intrafamilial arrangements labeled as loans have long invited special scrutiny from the IRS. In some cases, the Service has successfully established that the arrangement was not a loan but another type of transfer, such as a gift. In the wake of several IRS victories in cases where somewhat …

Postmortem Rights Of Publicity: The Federal Estate Tax Consequences Of New State-Law Property Rights, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

California recently passed legislation that creates retroactive, descendible rights of publicity. The New York State Assembly is poised to enact similar legislation. Legal recognition of postmortem rights of publicity permits a decedent's named beneficiaries or heirs to control (and financially benefit from) use of a deceased personality's image and likeness. Legislators, proponents of these laws, and legal commentators have overlooked two significant federal estate tax consequences of these new state law property rights. First, a descendible right of publicity likely will be included in a decedent's gross estate for federal estate tax purposes. Second, the estate tax value of rights …

The Estate Tax Fundamentals Of Celebrity And Control, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

We previously suggested in this Journal that post-death publicity rights could be excluded from the decedent's estate for tax purposes if state legislation precluded the decedent from exercising post-death control. In other words, if state legislation designated who would hold these rights after the decedent's death, the value of these rights should not be subject to estate tax. Professor Joshua Tate, in his response to our essay, argues that under current law, estate tax inclusion would be required regardless of the decedent's ability to exercise control. So, for example, in Professor Tate's analysis, the estate tax would apply even if …

The Profits And Penalties Of Kinship: Conflicting Meanings Of Family In Estate Tax Law, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article critically examines the conflicting estate tax definitions of family in I.R.C. Sections 2036, 2032A and 6166. The sections use terms such as family and related in ways that conflict with each other and with lay understanding of the terms. From an historical perspective, the multiple estate tax definitions reflect the Code sections' distinct purposes. From a theoretical perspective, they acknowledge the personal and economic interconnectedness within families as well as diversity in the structure of family arrangements. The existing definitions of family fall short, however, in that they fail to recognize the full range of associational arrangements that …

The Magic Of Disappearing Wealth Revisited: Using Family Limited Partnerships To Reduce Estate And Gift Tax, Ronald H. Jensen

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this article will describe the techniques for using FLPs to reduce gift and estate taxes. Part II will discuss the economic validity of the discounts that are allowed under current law. Part III will examine the current status of the law regarding FLPs. Finally, Part IV will discuss the need for reform and will analyze and evaluate the various proposals for reform put forth to date. Part IV will conclude with a new recommendation for curtailing the abusive use of FLPs.

Sample Forms, In Estate Planning Law And Taxation, 4th Ed., Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Sample estate planning forms.

Estate And Gift Tax Effects Of Selling A Remainder: Have D'Ambrosio, Wheeler And Magnin Changed The Rules?, Ronald H. Jensen

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article traces the evolving judicial interpretation of the “adequate and full consideration” exclusion found in section 2036. Part III examines the proper application of the “adequate and full consideration” exclusion to simple sales of remainders such as those involved in D'Ambrosio and Wheeler and concludes that the holdings in those cases are indisputably correct. It then analyzes the possible planning opportunities these decisions offer, particularly in light of section 2702. Part IV examines the effect of the D'Ambrosio trilogy on spousal elections. This Part outlines the potential gift and estate tax savings this device affords and then considers how …

Review Of Federal Income Taxation Of Estates And Beneficiaries, Ronald H. Jensen

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.