Most married couples hold title to their home in “tenancy by the entirety.” Married couples quit holding title as joint tenants when tenancy by the entirety was allowed in the mid 90’s in Illinois. This means that if one dies, the house snaps to the other avoiding probate. Also, the house is protected from creditors. [...]
Estate planning and real estate in the Land of Lincoln
Category Archives: Living Trusts
Living trust funding: Whose job is it?
At home, I received a newsletter from a northwest suburban lawyer who prepares a lot of living trusts. This attorney does a lot of seminars and I must be in his direct mail target market now that I am old enough to be in the AARP army. I scanned the newsletter expecting the usual boilerplate, [...]
Check your Cook Co. 09 tax exemptions online
If you bought a home in 2009, refinanced your mortgage in 2009 or recorded a deed into your living trust in 2009 please be sure to check to make sure that the county didn’t take away your homeowner’s exemption. This video, Tax Exemptions , explains that the county was yanking the homeowner’s exemptions of homeowners [...]
Large trusts may owe IL inheritance tax in 09
(4/9/09 Update: There is a bill pending in the Legislature that would eliminate this problem.) For 2009, the amount that is free of estate tax under federal law is $3.5 million. For 2009, the amount that is free of estate tax under Illinois law is $2.0 million. Illinois has “decoupled” from the federal estate tax [...]
FDIC limits rise for living trusts
The FDIC limits were increased recently to $250,000 for each beneficiary named in a living trust. So if you have three kids and your bank account is titled in your living trust, the FDIC protection is $750,000. This protection bonus expires at the end of 2009. If you don’t believe me you can read it [...]
Living Trust Dinner Seminars
A client called to say he got a direct mail invite to a living trust dinner seminar. At the seminar, act 2 would be some awesome chicken vesuvio. But, in act 1, the presenter promised to reveal several important provisions that should be in every trust, so the trust didn’t “fail.” My client wanted to [...]
Real estate disclosure by trustee or executor
For the last year, any executor or trustee trying to sell real estate faced a big problem: There were no buyers. Now, the real estate market has improved a little so there are some sale contracts finally. A common question is “Do I (the executor or trustee) have to fill out the property disclosure?” The [...]
Cautionary tale: Cook Co; Deeds to Living Trusts & Real Estate Tax
When a client sets up a living trust, we often record a new deed to their home transferring it to their living trust. In the past this caused no problem with the homeowner’s exemption on the real estate tax bill. Now it does cause a problem. Background: The homeowner’s exemption is available only on your [...]
Wall St. Journal and Living Trusts
I read Wall St. Journal regularly even though I am hardly a titan of industry. There were two articles in WSJ recently about living trusts that drove me crazy. On 12/31/06 there was an article titled "Living Trusts: Sometimes Needed Often Not." This was a typical "anti-trust" story that said watch out for finacial planners [...]
What can't go in a living trust? Treasury Direct
Treasury Direct allows owners of treasury bills, bonds and savings bonds to hold everything in an on-line account without the hassle of the paper bonds or bills. The only problem is that accounts titled in the name of a living trust are not allowed, only individual accounts. I often have clients with lots (thousands and [...]
