The Rabalais Law Firm's La. Estates Blog

I Want My Son to Inherit A Monthly Amount Instead of A Lump Sum!

I had a nice conversation yesterday with a woman in Alexandria Louisiana. Her main concern was that she didn't want her child to receive his inheritance in one big lump sum. She thought he would blow it. She wanted to set things up so that after she passed away her son would receive an amount every month that he could benefit from for the rest of his lifetime as opposed to giving it all to him in one lump sum. So we talked about it and started the proces of setting up a trust for her son so that the whole inheritance that he would receive wouldn't be used for the wrong reasons and it would benefit him for the rest of his lifetime. She'd be giving him a tremendous gift by doing that. So be aware that you have that option. You don't have to leave it in a lump sum and if you have that concern that your children may not use that lump sum for the right reasons make sure you take charge. I'm Paul Rabalais and have a nice day!

Should You Give Your Louisiana Home to Your Child(ren) NOW?

Hi, I'm Paul Rabalais. I want to tell you about a question a very nice young lady asked me about yesterday in Shreveport. She was asking me if she should give her home to her child now. I asked her why she wanted to do that and she said she thought it would just make things easier. I told her she could give her home to her child now but there's a couple of things i wanted her to be aware of and they have to do with taxes. Number 1 is she'll lose the property tax homestead exemption if she gives that home to her child now. Number 2 is her child will have to pay a lot more in capital gains tax whenever, in the future, her child sells that home. There wont be a step up in basis when she dies if she gives that home to her child. So whenever her son sells the home he'll have to pay tax on everything that he gets in excess of whatever she paid for that home. So I wanted to make her aware of those two potentially adverse tax consequences to giving your home to your child or your children while you're alive. So there's some alternatives she's considering such as putting her home in a revocable trust to avoid the probate but then retain all of those good tax benefits. I'm Paul Rabalais and have a good day!

Get Ready for the Reduced Federal Estate Tax Exemption - Millionaires Beware!

I want to talk to you today about families and avoiding Federal Estate Tax. We're in this political landscape right now where we don't know what is going to happen with our Estate Tax. I was talking to a financial advisor today. He wanted to run some of his estate planning concepts by me. It seems like there's a lot of attention now on what you can do to avoid the Federal Estate Tax. Right now for people who die this year they can leave up to $5 million worth of assets free of estate tax, but next year they're going to reduce that exemption from $5 million down to $1 million starting January 1st, 2013. Lots of families are starting now to prepare and plan to avoid that estate tax in the future. So if you're in that $1 million - $5 million range and you want to find out what you need to do to avoid estate tax, take a look at my book, it's on Amazon.com, or you can get it at all of the Louisiana Barnes and Nobles bookstores. It's called "Estate Planning in Louisiana." Make sure you get the 2nd edition which was written for 2012 and that will get you started. If you want to talk to us further give us a call at 866-491-3884. Have a good day!

Louisiana Estate Planning and the Transfer of Permanent Legal Custody

I want to talk to you about an issue that's near and dear to my heart, and that is, minor children. My wife Amy and I have 5 kids and so we're always concerned about what's in their best interest. I was meeting with a gentleman last week and he has permanent legal custody of a minor child. He's not the father of the child. I explained to him that being a parent of a minor child, in their last wills they can designate who has the right to raise the children if the parents die before the children reach the age of 18. This was a unique set of circumstances. This gentleman had permanent legal custody so we researched our Louisiana Law and determined that it would be best for him to designate in his will who he thought would be the best person to have custody of the child if he were to pass away. He's going in for a surgery so he wants to take care of these things. Be aware if you're a parent of a minor child, you can designate who will be the guardian or back up parent of your child. If you have permanent legal custody, there's a right way to make sure that minor is taken care of if something happens to you. I'm Paul Rabalais and have a great day!