• Patrick D. Newton is a North Carolina Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law.

Category: Estate Planning

Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs)

An ILIT is just an irrevocable trust that holds life insurance. An ILIT is used to make the death benefit escape estate tax. Life insurance already escapes income tax. Avoiding both tax systems can make life insurance a very attractive investment for the future of your family. With the estate tax exemption just over $5 million and climbing, many would be client believe that estate planning and estate tax planning in particular are no longer…

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Beneficiary Controlled Trusts

What is a Beneficiary Controlled Trust? A Beneficiary Controlled Trust is an estate or gift tax planning technique where parents leave property to their children in a trust rather than outright. As the name implies, the child-beneficiary is the trustee of the trust. Thus, the Beneficiary Controlled Trust. Why are estate planners and their clients increasingly using Beneficiary Controlled Trusts? It is easier to explain why, if we first understand that there are essentially two…

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