Sunday, May 12, 2013

Las Vegas IRA Trust

If you have assets valued at more than $199,999 you really should consider setting up a revocable living trust specifically designed to act as the beneficiary of your individual retirement account. Such a trust is often referred to as an IRA Trust, an IRA Living Trust or an IRA Inheritance Trust. Without one your IRA will be stuck in probate, often for months, where your intended beneficiary or beneficiaries will not be able to access it. Also, the courts may decide to divide the account among your heirs in a manner you didn't intend.

Putting your IRA into a trust has many more benefits besides avoiding probate.

For the sake of argument lets use an example whereby you leave a significant portion of your IRA to one of your grandchildren. If they were to receive the entire benefit all in a lump sum they could spend through it in very little time. Or, if you left it to an adult child and they received it all at once they would then have to declare it as income. The dispersed amount would be added to their income driving their tax bracket up. This  would leave less of your assets for them to spend.

Now lets pretend that you set up what is called a Stretch IRA. It is a sub-trust within your previously created trust and it allows you to stretch out the payments to your descendants. Now your grandchild can receive the money in a manner that would allow them to learn how to spend their money, and thereby have more money to grow their future in the long run. Looking at your adult child's situation they would receive the money in smaller amounts allowing them to pay a lower tax rate and keep more of the money.

Another benefit of having an IRA trust affects people in second marriages. By keeping the IRA in a trust your current wife can continue to receive access to the IRA and ensure that the remaining balance is left for your children or other beneficiaries. Your future wives won't be able to circumvent your financial wishes for your legacy.

Still another benefit of the IRA trust is protection from creditors upon your death. Without a trust the IRA benefits would be subject to lawsuits brought by your creditors. Also, the IRA trust will be protected from divorce lawsuits brought upon by your children's spouses in the future.

There are so many benefits to keeping an IRA of substantial value inside a trust that creating one should be considered a must. Talk to a lawyer experienced in handling Las Vegas IRA trust formation. You have the power to effect your remaining families life in positive ways. Take that important first step now.

Living Trusts, Pour-Over Wills, What Does All Of This Mean?

Living in the great state of Nevada gives you many advantages. One of the most well known advantages that most people are familiar with is that Nevada doesn't have a personal tax. For this reason alone many people have moved to Nevada to retire. Of course the dry climate and the many competitive golf courses are nice as well. But the advantages of calling Nevada home don't stop there. Nevada also has many laws in place to protect ones estate.

You have heard of a last will and testament before. Upon the death of the testator the person appointed to act as the administrator will read the will and distribute assets laid out in the will in accordance with the wishes of the testator. What you probably didn't know is that there is more than one type of will. We will focus on the Pour-over Will and how it can help your loved ones to avoid probate.

With a pour-over will you can set up a living trust that may, or may not, contain all of your property. Perhaps you are not ready to commit to including certain property or assets into your living trust. By having a pour-over will you can specify that certain assets pour-over into the previously created trust so they will avoid probate and be dispersed as outlined in your trust.

Some see setting up a trust a waste of money. It has to be maintained throughout the years while you are still alive and that can cost more money on top of the initial setup costs. The alternative though is to have all of your loved ones hire probate attorneys and hash it out with the courts. You would be surprised at how many families have in fighting because a proper trust didn't set forth a clear cut plan for how your assets will be transferred to your heirs.

The state of Nevada has created many different protections you can use to your benefit. All it takes is a little bit of planning up front to secure your legacy for generations to come. Find more intuitive ways to keep your assets and your family protected in the event of your demise with this guide to living revocable trusts. Take advantage of all that Nevada has made available to you by contacting a Las Vegas Lawyer who can help you.

Do I Really Need A Will?


This is one of the most asked questions men ask as they get older. There are a lot of myths about wills and it would seem that most men think wills are a hassle to create. By using a licensed Las Vegas Attorney that specializes in probate litigation you can avoid some very costly mistakes when setting up your will and you just might find that getting one in place is a lot easier than you'd think.

The first thing your attorney will do for you is consult with you on what you wish to include in your will. During this consultation they will also bring ideas to the table on assets you might have overlooked. After your consultation they will have a last will and testament drawn up for you.

Your draft will most certainly cover the many issues that often come up during ones death or incapacitation. Your durable power of attorney will be set, as will your health care power of attorney. Options for storing this important document and its copies will also be examined.

Upon your approval and your attorneys satisfaction that all concerns have been met both personally to you and your family, and contractually within the laws of the courts, you will have your will notarized. At this point it will be legally binding and you can breath a sigh of relief. The hard part is over. Now your loved ones will have much more protection than they had before.

A will spells out how your assets will be distributed to your beneficiaries. Without one your loved ones will be at the mercy of the probate court. The court will see fit how to distribute your assets and they will not allow hearsay into evidence. Any purely verbal commitments you may have made will not hold up in court. They won't even be acknowledged on the smallest level. This is why a will can be so very important.

Sure, having a living trust along with your will can allow your family to completely circumvent the probate process altogether, but it all starts with you calling Las Vegas Attorneys that are standing by to help you with your estate planning. Drafting the will to get you covered now will always be of the upmost importance.

Don't let another day go by without taking this first step. Your loved ones are counting on you.

Las Vegas Living Trust


It seems every single year the government finds new ways of claiming a portion of your money. These new laws don't stop pursuing your estate in the event of your death. In fact, some of the largest expenses against your estate can happen when you fail to have a plan of action for what will happen with your estate when you pass on. At a bare minimum having a will is a must. To really keep your family in the best possible place and to protect your estate you should think about setting up a trust to guard your belonging from a hungrier and hungrier government.

There are many different instruments you can utilize to ensure the safe passage of your assets to the proper beneficiaries as you see fit. Speaking with a competent Las Vegas attorney that is trained in, and has experience in, probate, wills and trust law is paramount to your success.

A Las Vegas living trust could be the answer to your situation if you are looking for estate planning that includes being able to make changes later on should your financial situation change as you get older. Anthony L. Barney, Ltd. and his team of qualified professionals are ready to help you with clear answers to some of life's hardest questions.

Through Nevada's Domestic Asset Protection Trust laws their team will draft a plan that will stand up in probate court. They will show you how to structure your DAPT in a way that will ensure the highest percentage of your hard earned assets will transfer over to your heirs.

By using a wide range of tools such as a Qualified Personal Residence Trust, or QPRT, the law office of Anthony L. Barney, Ltd. will show you that it is possible for you to transfer either your main residence or a second residence into the QPRT in order to avoid costly estate taxes. Most people are unaware of their ability to do this legally.

With a QPRT you can still live in the home for a length of time you set when creating the trust called the "retained income period". During this period you will still claim deductions on the home as you normally would have done before setting up the trust.

After the retained income period has expired the home will be tranferred to the preset beneficiary you had chosen when you created the trust. At that point you can still continue to live in the home by paying fair market rental value. The home will be taxed as a gift at the value the home was appraised for when setting up the trust. Through gift tax exclusions a considerable percentage of gift tax can also be avoided further reducing the amount taxes will play into your asset transfer.

Don't hesitate to call on Anthony L. Barney to discuss your personal situation and to formulate a plan that is built around your needs. When you want a Las Vegas lawyer you want Anthony L. Barney.