Estate Planning with Fexingo: Wills, Trusts, and Passing Wealth to Future Generations

In this episode of Estate Planning with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT), a powerful strategy for married couples facing estate tax exposure. They walk through how a SLAT works—one spouse gifts assets into an irrevocable trust for the other spouse's benefit, removing those assets from the grantor's estate while the beneficiary spouse retains access to income and principal. Lucas explains the mechanics with a concrete example: a couple with a $20 million net worth, $7 million above the federal exemption, uses a SLAT to shelter $5 million, and the resulting estate tax savings of roughly $2 million at a 40% rate. He highlights the 'reciprocal trust' risk and why identical trusts could land you back at square one. Luna brings up the asset protection angle and the importance of picking the right trustee. They also discuss the 2026 sunset that will cut the exemption roughly in half, making SLATs timely for high-net-worth couples. A natural donation sidebar ties the ad-free mission to the value of trust planning. By the end, listeners understand why a SLAT is not just a tax dodge but a flexible safety net for wealthy spouses.

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Lucas and Luna break down the Grantor Retained Annuity Trust, or GRAT — a strategy that lets you freeze the value of an asset for estate tax purposes while keeping the income. Using the example of a founder holding $50 million in company stock, they walk through how a GRAT works, why it's popular in low-interest-rate environments, and the one risk that can blow it up: dying during the trust term. They also discuss why the IRS clamped down on short-term 'zeroed-out' GRATs and whether the strategy still makes sense in mid-2026 with interest rates above 5 percent. No legal advice — just the mechanics so you know what to ask your estate planner.

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More than half of Americans over 65 will need long-term care, and the median annual cost of a private nursing home room is now over $108,000. Without planning, families often drain decades of savings just to qualify for government assistance. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the Medicaid Asset Protection Trust — a legal structure that lets older adults transfer assets like a home or investment account to an irrevocable trust while preserving the right to live in the home or receive income from the trust. After a five-year look-back period, those assets are shielded from Medicaid's asset limits, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. The hosts walk through a concrete example: a 68-year-old Florida retiree with a $400,000 home and $200,000 in investments who faces a 72-month care horizon. They explain the five-year clock, the trade-off of losing direct control, and why an elder-law attorney is essential. This episode focuses on the trust's mechanics, not general Medicaid advice, and includes a brief listener-support mention to keep the show ad-free.

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Episode 86 of Estate Planning with Fexingo unpacks the Crummey power — a technical but essential mechanism that makes annual gifts to an irrevocable life insurance trust qualify for the gift tax annual exclusion. Lucas and Luna walk through the origin story from the 1968 Crummey v. Commissioner case, explain how a 30-day withdrawal right works in practice, and compare it to the modern alternative of a hanging power. They also discuss why the IRS has scrutinized Crummey notices in recent years and what changes the 2025 proposed regulations might bring. No theoretical fluff — just the nuts and bolts of keeping an ILIT compliant while maximizing tax-free transfers.

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Lucas and Luna explore the qualified personal residence trust, or QPRT, an estate-planning tool that lets you gift your home to your heirs at a discount while you keep living in it for a set number of years. They walk through a concrete example: a $2 million vacation home transferred into a QPRT with a 10-year retained term, showing how the taxable gift drops by roughly 40 percent when interest rates are around 3 percent. The hosts discuss the key tradeoff: if you die during the retained term, the full home value snaps back into your estate, so you're effectively betting you'll outlive the term. They also cover practical edge cases like selling the home mid-term, refinancing, and why the QPRT works best when you're in good health and have enough other assets to cover the gift tax exemption hit. No prior episode covered this specific trust structure that combines a retained interest with a future gift.

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In this episode of Estate Planning with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the Dynasty Trust — a powerful vehicle designed to transfer wealth across multiple generations while minimizing estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Using a detailed example of a $10 million estate, Lucas explains how a Dynasty Trust can shelter assets from taxes for decades or even centuries, provided it's structured in a state that has abolished the rule against perpetuities. The hosts compare Dynasty Trusts to simpler alternatives like generation-skipping trusts and discuss practical considerations such as trustee selection, distribution provisions, and the impact of state law. Luna raises the critical question of whether the promised tax savings are worth the loss of control, and Lucas walks through the trade-offs. The episode also includes a brief, organic mention of listener support at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Listeners will come away with a clear understanding of when a Dynasty Trust makes sense and how it fits into a comprehensive estate plan.

#DynastyTrust #GenerationSkippingTransferTax #EstatePlanning #WealthTransfer #TrustLaw #RuleAgainstPerpetuities #SouthDakotaTrust #DelawareTrust #InheritanceTax #FamilyWealth #TaxStrategy #Finance #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #EstateTax #MultiGenerationalWealth #TrustAndEstates #AssetProtection

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In this episode of Estate Planning with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the grantor trust — a powerful but often misunderstood estate planning tool. They walk through how a grantor trust shifts assets out of your taxable estate while you continue paying the income tax, effectively reducing your estate tax bill without triggering gift tax. Using a concrete example of a $10 million investment portfolio placed in a grantor trust, they explain how the trust's income is taxed to the grantor, allowing the assets inside to grow tax-free for beneficiaries. They also discuss the 2026 estate tax exemption cliff, why the grantor trust is a favorite among wealthy families, and the strategic use of the so-called 'swap power.' The episode clarifies the difference between grantor and non-grantor trusts, and why the grantor trust's unique tax treatment can supercharge wealth transfer over decades.

#GrantorTrust #EstatePlanning #Trusts #WealthTransfer #EstateTax #GenerationSkipping #PersonalFinance #Finance #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #TaxPlanning #IrrevocableTrust #GrantorTrustRules #SwapPower #EstateTaxExemption #IntentionallyDefectiveTrust #WealthPreservation #InheritancePlanning

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Lucas and Luna break down the estate tax portability election — the rule that lets a surviving spouse inherit a deceased spouse's unused estate tax exemption. Using the real-world example of a $22 million couple in 2026, they explain how Form 706 is filed to preserve the exemption, why many families miss the nine-month deadline, and what happens when portability is lost. They also contrast portability with bypass trusts and discuss the impact of the 2025 sunset that halved the exemption. Practical steps for married couples to lock in portability now — even if they don't owe estate tax today.

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In Episode 81 of Estate Planning with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explain how a retained life estate lets you gift your home to your heirs now while living in it for the rest of your life. They walk through the mechanics of a lady bird deed, the tax implications of a qualified personal residence interest trust, and why a life estate can be a powerful Medicaid planning tool. Using a real-world example of a $750,000 home in Florida, they show how this strategy keeps the property out of probate, preserves the step-up in basis for heirs, and protects against nursing home costs. If you own a home and want to pass it down without losing control, this episode is for you.

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Episode 80 of Estate Planning with Fexingo unpacks the net gift strategy—a powerful technique that shifts the gift tax burden from the giver to the recipient. Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete example: a parent gifting $1 million in stock to a child, and how structuring it as a net gift cuts the parent's tax liability by over $200,000. They explain the mechanics, the IRS formula, and why this matters in the current gift tax exemption environment (as of mid-2026, the exemption is set to drop in 2026). The hosts also discuss when net gifts backfire—like if the recipient can't afford the tax—and how to pair it with a Crummey power trust. A must-hear for anyone planning large lifetime transfers before the exemption sunsets.

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