Steve Murphy, chair of the private wealth services practice group at McGuireWoods, discusses the Spousal Lifetime Access Trust, also known as the SLAT. Steve explains the rights that your spouse can have in this trust through the categories of access, flexibility, and control. And it is ultimately up to you, the client, to determine what level of access, flexibility, and control you would like to give your spouse as you draft a SLAT.

In this episode, Steve discusses the importance of the rule-based power to remove and replace a trustee. He explores this topic through the Leo Kahn Revocable Trust case in Massachusetts. In this case, the settlor named three trustees, and one trustee eventually wanted to remove the other two. The trust, however, included provisions that prevented this action, which landed the matter in court to resolve potential ambiguity in the document. Throughout his discussion, Steve stresses the importance of the power to remove and replace trustees – and the importance of making this power as clear as possible.

Read Summary & Transcript

In this episode, Steve provides insights on selecting a trustee of an ongoing trust, who may be the beneficiary or a third-party trustee. Steve will explain the advantages and disadvantages of each option, in addition to the three categories of functions your chosen trustee will manage.

Read Summary & Transcript

In this episode, Steve discusses the terms of a trust, how to ensure that the best trust structure is in place, and how to establish the right directions for a trustee to follow. He unpacks the differences between a rules-based approach with automatic steps for distribution of the trust versus a standards-based approach, where you give your discretion to your trustee, but the decision making is really vested to them with your guidance.

Read Summary & Transcript

Steve has covered the transfer tax system of estate tax and gift tax, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax thus far in the Once Removed series. But there’s a separate tax regime everyone should be mindful of in estate planning: the income tax. Steve details the income tax and the particular rules of how it applies to trusts. He will explain how you can build in flexibility to make sure your intent is carried out in the future, and is carried out in a tax-efficient manner.

Read Summary & Transcript

Steve Murphy, chair of the private wealth services practice group, presents the case of In re Harrison. In this case, the settlors of a trust tried to go the simple route – they had the assets pass outright to their grandson for the most part. The assets would be held in trust for his benefit for a period of time. But when the time came for those distributions, the trustee wasn’t so sure the grandson was ready for those funds. As Steve walks you through this pivotal case, he’ll underscore the important principles of making the right decisions when planning that will benefit your beneficiaries and yourself.

Read Summary & Transcript

Steve Murphy, chair of the private wealth services group, discusses four potential benefits of a trust structure and ways to balance potential concerns for your estate plan through simplicity and flexibility, on the one hand, or structure and certainty, on the other. He addresses the question of when you should have a gift or bequest held in a long-term, irrevocable trust for a beneficiary.

Read Summary & Transcript

There is a limit on how much you can benefit future generations without incurring additional transfer tax. Tune in to this episode to learn about the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax (GST). This is a complex tax that applies to transfers of wealth between multiple generations. Steve Murphy, chair of the private wealth services practice group at McGuireWoods, shares the history of the GST tax and how it could affect different generations.

Read Summary & Transcript

What is the goal for transferring wealth during life and upon death? Whatever your plan may be, taxes will be a part of it. However, they don’t need to be the sole factor.

Steve Murphy, chair of the private wealth services practice group at McGuireWoods, explains why taxes should not be the most important factors in the transfer of your wealth this episode of the Once Removed series. Steve provides substantive information on the importance of ultimately knowing where you fall on the estate tax spectrum and explains the exceptions that exist to assist you with management of your wealth.

Read Summary & Transcript

How do you ensure that your assets are passed as simply and efficiently as possible?

Steve Murphy, chair of the private wealth services group at McGuireWoods, will walk you through the classes of property involved before probate, the process of probate, and the importance of keeping a well-maintained list of your assets and checking it twice. Steve shares that avoiding probate is just a factor in your estate planning, not a means to an end.

Read Summary & Transcript