New York Estate Planning & Elder Law

The Stretch IRA Is Diminished but Not Completely Gone / Greenwich, CT & New York, NY

“In the pre-SECURE Act universe, there were designated beneficiaries. These beneficiaries could be individuals (sometimes called named beneficiaries), institutions, such as charities, or estates.”

Before the SECURE Act, named beneficiaries who inherited an IRA were able to take distributions over the course of their lifetimes. This allowed the IRA to grow over many years, sometimes decades. This option came to an end in 2019 for most heirs, but not for all, says the recent article “Who is Still Eligible for a Stretch IRA?” from Fed Week.

A quick refresher: the SECURE Act—Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement—was passed in December 2019. Its purpose was, ostensibly, to make retirement savings more accessible for less-advantaged people. Among many other things, it extended the time workers could put savings into IRAs and when they needed to start taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).

However, one of the features not welcomed by many was the change in inherited IRA distributions. Those not eligible for the stretch option must empty the account, no matter its size, within ten years of the death of the original owner. Large IRAs are diminished by the taxes and some individuals are pushed into higher tax brackets as a result.

However, not everyone has lost the ability to use the stretch option, including anyone who inherited an IRA before January 1, 2020. This is who is included in this category:

• Surviving Spouses.
• Minor children of the deceased account owner–but only until they reach the age of majority. Once the minor becomes of legal age, he or she must deplete the IRA within ten years. The only exception is for full-time students, which ends at age 26.
• Disabled individuals. There is a high bar to qualify. The person must meet the total disability definition, which is close to the definition used by Social Security. The person must be unable to engage in any type of employment because of a medically determined or mental impairment that would result in death or to be of chronic duration.
• Chronically ill persons. This is another challenge for qualifying. The individual must meet the same standards used by insurance companies used to qualify policyowners for long-term care coverage. The person must be certified by a treating physician or other licensed health care practitioner as not able to perform at least two activities of daily living or require substantial supervision, due to a cognitive impairment.
• Those who are not more than ten years younger than the deceased account owner. That means any beneficiary, not just someone who was related to the account owner.

What was behind this change? Despite the struggles of most Americans to put aside money for their retirement, which is a looming national crisis, there are trillions of dollars sitting in IRA accounts. Where better to find tax revenue, than in these accounts? Yes, this was a major tax grab for the federal coffers.

Reference: Fed Week (March 3, 2021) “Who is Still Eligible for a Stretch IRA?”

For more information on asset preservation and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Does a Will Supersede a Beneficiary Form? / New York, NY & Greenwich, CT

“If you haven't reviewed your beneficiary designations recently, you may be setting your heirs and estate up for some unpleasant surprises.”

It’s a simple question: do you know who your retirement account beneficiaries are? These tax-deferred accounts are complex, with significant tax implications for heirs that become more challenging if key information is missing on beneficiary forms, which is often the case. According to this recent article from The Street, “Secure your IRA—Review Your Beneficiary Forms Now,” the SECURE Act was the biggest retirement law change in decades. As a result, there has never been a more important time to review beneficiary forms.

Start by requesting a copy of your beneficiary designation forms from all of the institutions that hold your IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and any tax deferred savings accounts to check for errors and accuracy. Most people fill these forms out when the accounts are opened and never give them a second thought.

The courts see many cases where family dynamics changed, but beneficiary forms were never updated. The cost and stress of estranged or divorced spouses receiving a lifetime of retirement savings because no one thought to update the form cannot be overstated.

It is pretty easy for most of us to locate our wills, trusts and life insurance policies, but we tend not to keep copies of our retirement account beneficiary forms. This makes no sense, as these are the accounts where most people have saved the bulk of their wealth.

Account owners are generally unaware of how important the beneficiary document is, or the consequences of the information being out of date. These documents are more powerful than the will.

These assets pass outside of the will. No matter what your will says, the assets in the accounts pass to whoever is named on the beneficiary form.

If there is no beneficiary named on the form, the asset will likely be paid to your estate. When this happens, the account must be fully distributed within five years of the account owner’s death, if they died before their required beginning date of distributions. If there are no named beneficiaries and the account owner dies on or after the required beginning date, there may be less of a negative impact. An estate planning attorney will be able to help you and your heirs plan for this event.

The SECURE Act made this harder for anyone who dies after 2019. For retirement accounts inherited after December 31, 2019, there are classes of beneficiaries and each has their own distribution rules.

Many trusts named as beneficiaries of IRAs/retirement plans no longer work as planned. If your estate plan named a trust as a beneficiary for a tax-deferred account, speak with your estate planning attorney to make any necessary changes.

The SECURE Act eliminated the use of the “Stretch” IRA for most non-spouse beneficiaries. This means that most heirs will need to empty any inherited accounts within ten years of the death of the owner, rather than stretch the distributions over their own lifetimes. Failure to do so could lead to a 50% penalty of the amount not distributed plus taxes.

Your estate planning attorney may be able to create alternatives to the stretch IRA, but the first step to address this issue is to obtain your beneficiary forms. Once you have them in hand, you can make the necessary changes and begin to plan for the optimal distribution of your assets.

Reference: The Street (Dec. 28, 2020) “Secure your IRA—Review Your Beneficiary Forms Now”

For more information on elder law, retirement planning and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

SECURE Act has Changed Special Needs Planning / Greenwich, CT & New York, NY

“An applicable multi-beneficiary trust can solve some--but not all--of the challenges that the new act presents.”

The SECURE Act eliminated the life expectancy payout for inherited IRAs for most people, but it also preserved the life expectancy option for five classes of eligible beneficiaries, referred to as “EDBs” in a recent article from Morningstar.com titled “Providing for Disabled Beneficiaries After the SECURE Act.” Two categories that are considered EDBs are disabled individuals and chronically ill individuals. Estate planning needs to be structured to take advantage of this option.

The first step is to determine if the individual would be considered disabled or chronically ill within the specific definition of the SECURE Act, which uses almost the same definition as that used by the Social Security Administration to determine eligibility for SS disability benefits.

A person is deemed to be “chronically ill” if they are unable to perform at least two activities of daily living or if they require substantial supervision because of cognitive impairment. A licensed healthcare practitioner certifies this status, typically used when a person enters a nursing home and files a long-term health insurance claim.

However, if the disabled or ill person receives any kind of medical care, subsidized housing or benefits under Medicaid or any government programs that are means-tested, an inheritance will disqualify them from receiving these benefits. They will typically need to spend down the inheritance (or have a court authorized trust created to hold the inheritance), which is likely not what the IRA owner had in mind.

Typically, a family member wishing to leave an inheritance to a disabled person leaves the inheritance to a Supplemental Needs Trust or SNT. This allows the individual to continue to receive benefits but can pay for things not covered by the programs, like eyeglasses, dental care, or vacations. However, does the SNT receive the same life expectancy payout treatment as an IRA?

Thanks to a special provision in the SECURE Act that applies only to the disabled and the chronically ill, a SNT that pays nothing to anyone other than the EDB can use the life expectancy payout. The SECURE Act calls this trust an “Applicable Multi-Beneficiary Trust,” or AMBT.

For other types of EDB, like a surviving spouse, the individual must be named either as the sole beneficiary or, if a trust is used, must be the sole beneficiary of a conduit trust to qualify for the life expectancy payout. Under a conduit trust, all distributions from the inherited IRA or other retirement plan must be paid out to the individual more or less as received during their lifetime. However, the SECURE Act removes that requirement for trusts created for the disabled or chronically ill.

However, not all of the SECURE Act’s impact on special needs planning is smooth sailing. The AMBT must provide that nothing may be paid from the trust to anyone but the disabled individual while they are living. What if the required minimum distribution from the inheritance is higher than what the beneficiary needs for any given year? Let’s say the trustee must withdraw an RMD of $60,000, but the disabled person’s needs are only $20,000? The trust is left with $40,000 of gross income, and there is nowhere for the balance of the gross income to go.

In the past, SNTs included a provision that allowed the trustee to pass excess income to other family members and deduct the amount as distributable net income, shifting the tax liability to family members who might be in a lower tax bracket than the trust.

Special Needs Planning under the SECURE Act has raised this and other issues, which can be addressed by an experienced estate planning attorney.

Reference: Morningstar.com (Dec. 9, 2020) “Providing for Disabled Beneficiaries After the SECURE Act”

For more information on elder law and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

The Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes and How to Avoid Them / Greenwich, CT & New York, NY

“One of the biggest wealth transfers our nation has ever seen is about to take place. Over the next 25 years, as much as $68 trillion of wealth will be passed to succeeding generations.”

Heirs who are prepared to inherit wealth, with families who talk about wealth and have an estate plan, will do better than those who do not, says the West Haven Observer’s recent article “5 Estate planning disasters you’ll want to avoid.” A constantly changing legal and tax environment presents significant challenges, but a few simple steps may save your beneficiaries from the expense and stress of these common estate planning mistakes.

1. Not designating beneficiaries properly. This is one of the most common mistakes, and one that cannot always be fixed. It’s easy to forget whose name you put on a pension or life insurance plan thirty years ago. However, failing to check those beneficiaries, especially if your life has undergone big changes, can lead to the wrong people enjoying the proceeds.

Using beneficiary designations is an excellent way to bypass the process of probate, since assets that pass this way are not subject to probate. Depending upon where you live, probate can be a long, drawn out process. A beneficiary designation is far simpler and more efficient.

Failing to name a beneficiary when setting up bank accounts, opening CDs, and savings accounts is a common error. This can be fixed by making these accounts “TOD,” or Transfer on Death so the account goes directly to your designated beneficiary.

Your will does not control any beneficiary designations. That’s why this step is so important.

2-Designating a minor as a beneficiary. You love your grandchildren but unless they are adults, they cannot inherit assets until they are 18 or 21, depending on the laws of your state. If a minor does receive an asset, the court appoints a guardian to supervise and manage the assets. Your estate planning attorney will advise you on your individual situation, but one alternative is to list a guardian for the minor child inside the will, so the court appoints the person who you choose to manage the property until the child becomes of age.

Another means of providing for young children or grandchildren is to create a trust. The trust names a trustee, usually a trusted friend or relative who is knowledgeable and responsible. They manage the assets on behalf of the child. The trust also permits assets to pass without probate.

3-Failing to fund a trust. All too often, this is the weak link that breaks the estate. Placing assets within the trust is called funding the trust. Usually this means changing the ownership of bank accounts or real estate from being owned by an individual to being owned by the trust. If the trust is not funded and the will has instructions that seemingly contradict the trust, the asset will need to go through probate and the trust instructions will be ignored.

4-Leaving a tax nightmare for heirs. One of the many advantages of passing on real estate or other assets that appreciate is that beneficiaries get a “step up” in basis. That means the heirs are not responsible for any income taxes on the appreciated assets. This can be a very big benefit. There are exceptions—inherited IRAs and 401(k)s don’t have this advantage. However, the recent passage of the SECURE Act has taken away many tax benefits for IRA heirs. Most non-spouse beneficiaries must fully withdraw the entire amount from the IRA or 401(k) within ten years, and the withdrawal is considered ordinary income. It could leave your heirs with a huge, unexpected tax bill.

There is a workaround. By converting some or perhaps all of your retirement accounts to a Roth IRA during your lifetime, you can pay the taxes when converting the IRA to a Roth IRA at your current tax rate, which may be lower than your children or grandchildren’s rate. When you die, any money in the Roth IRA goes to heirs completely tax free.

5-The biggest mistake of all is not having an estate plan. Thinking about your legacy plan, mortality and incapacity is not fun for anyone. However, by spending the time and resources in creating an estate plan, you spare your loved ones from an inordinate amount of stress and expenses, which they will appreciate. One of the best gifts you can give your loved ones is a well-thought out, properly created and executed estate plan.

Reference: West Haven Observer (Nov. 12, 2020) “5 Estate planning disasters you’ll want to avoid”

For more information on asset preservation and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Inherited IRAs Require Careful Handling / White Plains, NY & New York, NY

“One wrong decision can lead to expensive consequences, and good luck trying to persuade the IRS to give you a do-over.”

For those who inherit IRAs, the intersection of taxes, estate law and financial planning can be a tricky place. There are many choices, maybe too many, and making the wrong choice can be costly, according to the recent article “6 inherited IRA rules all beneficiaries must know” from Bankrate.

There are two categories of beneficiaries. Surviving spouses, minor children, chronically ill or disabled individuals, or someone who is not less than 10 years younger than the original owner are subject to one set of rules. Everyone else has another set of rules.

You’ll need to know if the original owner had taken any RMDs—required minimum distributions—before they passed.

Did you want to minimize taxes, or is it more important for you to maximize cash distribution?

These are just a few of the issues to be addressed. Already complicated, inherited IRAs got even more complicated because of the SECURE Act, which changed some longstanding practices. Some experts tell beneficiaries not to do anything, until they meet with an estate planning attorney. The worst thing someone could do is make a wrong step and lose half of the IRA to taxes.

Here are the six rules for inherited IRAs:

1–Spouses have the most flexibility. The surviving spouse may treat the IRA as her own, naming herself as the owner. She can also roll it over into another account, such as another IRA or a qualified employer plan (including 403(b) plans). She could also treat herself as the beneficiary of the plan. However, each choice leads to further choices and decisions. She might let the IRA grow in the account until she reaches age 72, the new age for RMDs. Or she can roll the IRA into an IRA of her own, which lets her then name her own beneficiary.

2—When do you want to take the money? If you fall into the category of surviving spouses, minor children, chronically ill or disabled individuals, or someone who is not less than ten years younger than the original owner, then you can take the distributions over your own life expectancy. That’s the “stretch” option. Otherwise, you need to take distributions from the account over ten years, according to the SECURE Act. Depending on the size of the IRA, that could be a nasty tax bill. You can take as little or as much as you want, but by year ten after the owner’s death, the account must be empty.

3—Know about year of death required distributions. If the owner of the IRA did not take his RMD in the year of his death, beneficiaries are required to do so. If a parent dies in early January, for example, it’s not likely he took his RMD. The IRS doesn’t care if you didn’t know—you’ll be liable for a penalty of 50% of the amount that wasn’t taken out. If someone dies close to the end of the year, it’s possible that heirs might not know about the accounts until after the deadline has passed. If the deceased was not yet 70½, there is no-year-of-death distribution.

4—Get all the breaks you can—tax breaks. For estates subject to the estate tax, IRA beneficiaries will get an income-tax deduction for estate taxes paid on the account. The taxable income earned but not received by the deceased is called “income in respect of a decedent.” When someone takes a distribution from an IRA, it’s treated as taxable income. However, the decedent’s estate is paying a federal estate tax, so beneficiaries get an income-tax deduction for estate taxes paid on the IRA. For a $1 million income in an inherited IRA, there could be a $350,000 deduction offset against that.

5—Beneficiary forms matter. An entire estate plan can be undone by a missing beneficiary form, or one that is not filled out correctly or is ambiguous. If there is no designated beneficiary form and the account goes to the estate, the beneficiary will need to take the distribution from the IRA in five years. Forms that aren’t updated, are missing, or don’t clearly identify the individuals create all kinds of expensive headaches.

6—Improperly drafted trusts are trouble. If they are done wrong, a trust can limit beneficiary options in a big way. If the provisions in the trust are not properly drafted, some custodians won’t be able to see through the trust to determine the qualified beneficiaries. Any ability to maximize the time to take money out of an IRA could be lost. An experienced estate planning attorney who knows the rules about IRAs and trusts is a must.

Reference: Bankrate (July 17, 2020) “6 inherited IRA rules all beneficiaries must know”

For more information on asset preservation and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Coronavirus Makes Estate and Tax Planning an Urgent Task / White Plains, NY & New York, NY

“What may have seemed like something to take care of ‘one day,’ has turned into a basic necessity that makes it essential and necessary for you to encourage your clients to act now.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought estate planning front and center to many people who would otherwise dismiss it as something they would get to at some point in the future, says the article “Estate and Life Insurance Considerations During the Covid-19 Pandemic” from Bloomberg Tax. Many don’t have a frame of reference to address the medical, legal, financial, and insurance questions that now need to be addressed promptly. They’ve never experienced anything like today’s world. The time to get your affairs in order is now.

What will happen if we get sick? Will we recover? Who will take care of us and make legal decisions for us? What if a family member is in an assisted living facility and is incapacitated? All of these “what if” questions are now pressing concerns. Now is the time to review all legal, insurance and financial plans, and take into consideration two new laws: the SECURE Act and the CARES Act.

An experienced estate planning attorney who focuses on estate planning will save you an immense amount of money. Bargain hunters be careful: a small mistake or oversight in an estate plan can lead to expensive consequences. A competent legal professional is the best investment.

Here’s an example of what can go wrong: A person names two minor children—under age 18—as beneficiaries on their IRA account, life insurance policy or bank account. The person dies. Minors are not permitted to hold title to assets. Minors in New York are considered wards of the court in need of protection and court supervision. Therefore, in this state, the result of the beneficiary designation means that a special Surrogate’s Court proceeding will need to occur to have a pecuniary guardian appointed for the minors, even if the applicant is their custodial guardian.

Another “what if?” is the support for a disabled or special needs beneficiary who may be receiving government support. If the parents are gone, who will care for their disabled child? What if there are not enough assets in the estate to provide supplemental financial support, in addition to the government benefits? Life insurance can be used to fund a special needs trust to ensure that their child will not be dependent upon family or friends to care for their needs. However, if there is no special needs trust in place, an inheritance may put the child’s government support in jeopardy.

Here are the core estate planning documents to be prepared:

• Last Will and Testament
• Revocable Living Trust
• Durable General Power of Attorney
• Health Care Declaration such as a Health Care Proxy

The SECURE Act changed the rules regarding inherited IRAs. With the exception of a surviving spouse and a few other exempt individuals, the required minimum distributions must be taken within a ten- year time period. This causes an additional income tax liability for future generations. There are strategies to reduce the impact, but they require advance planning with the help of an estate planning attorney.

Reference: Bloomberg Tax (June 18, 2020) “Estate and Life Insurance Considerations During the Covid-19 Pandemic”

For more information on asset preservation and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Update Will at These 12 Times in Your Life / Greenwich, CT & White Plains, NY

“It is also important to realize that it isn’t merely ‘why’ you are updating your will, but ‘when’ you are updating that can make all the difference.”

Estate planning lawyers hear it all the time—people meaning to update their will, but somehow never getting around to actually getting it done. The only group larger than the ones who mean to “someday,” are the ones who don’t think they ever need to update their documents, says the article “12 Different Times When You Should Update Your Will” from Kiplinger. The problems become abundantly clear when people die, and survivors learn that their will is so out-of-date that it creates a world of problems for a grieving family.

There are some wills that do stand the test of time, but they are few and far between. Families undergo all kinds of changes, and those changes should be reflected in the will. Here are one dozen times in life when wills need to be reviewed:

Welcoming a child to the family. The focus is on naming a guardian and a trustee to oversee their finances. The will should be flexible to accommodate additional children in the future.

Divorce is a possibility. Don’t wait until the divorce is underway to make changes. Do it beforehand. If you die before the divorce is finalized, your spouse will have marital rights to your property. Once you file for divorce, in many states you are not permitted to change your will until the divorce is finalized. Make no moves here, however, without the advice of your attorney.

Your divorce has been finalized. If you didn’t do it before, update your will now. Don’t neglect updating beneficiaries on life insurance, retirement accounts such as IRAs, and any other accounts that may have named your ex as a beneficiary.

When your child(ren) marry. You may be able to mitigate the lack of a prenuptial agreement by creating trusts in your will so anything you leave your child won’t be considered a marital asset if his or her marriage goes south.

Your beneficiary has problems with drugs or money. Money left directly to a beneficiary is at risk of being attached by creditors or dissolving into a drug habit. Updating your will to include trusts that allow a trustee to only distribute funds under optimal circumstances protects your beneficiary and their inheritance.

Named executor or beneficiary dies. Your old will may have a contingency plan for what should happen if a beneficiary or executor dies, but you should probably revisit the plan. If a named executor dies and you don’t update the will, then what happens if the second executor dies?

A young family member grows up. Most people name a parent as their executor, then a spouse or trusted sibling. Two or three decades go by. An adult child may now be ready to take on the task of handling your estate.

New laws go into effect. In recent months, there have been many big changes to the law that impact estate planning, from the SECURE Act to the CARES Act. Ask your estate planning attorney every few years if there have been new laws that are relevant to your estate plan.

An inheritance or a windfall. If you come into a significant amount of money, your tax liability changes. You’ll want to update your will so you include efficient tax planning as part of your estate plan.

Can’t find your will? If you can’t find the original will, then you need a new will. Your estate planning attorney will make sure that your new will has language that states revokes all prior wills.

Buying property in another country or moving to another country. Some countries have reciprocity with America. However, transferring property to an heir in one country may be delayed if the will needs to be probated in another country. Ask your estate planning attorney if you need wills for each country in which you own property.

Family and friends are enemies. Friends have no rights when it comes to your estate plan. Therefore, if families and friends are fighting, the family member will win. If you suspect that your family may push back against any bequests to friends, consider adding a “No Contest” clause to disinherit family members who try to elbow your friends out of the estate.

Reference: Kiplinger (May 26, 2020) “12 Different Times When You Should Update Your Will”

For more information on asset preservation and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Are You Making the Most of the SECURE and CARES Acts? / New York, NY & Greenwich, CT

“There have been several law changes that affect IRAs passed since December 2019.”

The SECURE Act made a number of changes to IRAs, effective January 1, 2020. It was followed by the CARES Act, effective March 27, 2020, which brought even more changes. A recent article from the Milwaukee Business Journal, titled “IRA planning tips for changes associated with the SECURE and CARES acts,” explains what account owners need to know.

Setting Every Community Up for Retirement (SECURE) Act

The age when you have to take your RMD increased from 70½ to 72 if you turned 70½ on or before December 31, 2019. Younger than 70½ before 2020? You still must take your RMDs. But, if you can, consider deferring any distributions from your RMD until you must take them. This gives your IRA a chance to rebound rather than locking in any losses from the current market.

Beneficiary rules changed. The “stretch” feature of the IRA was eliminated. Any non-spousal beneficiary of an IRA owner who dies after Dec. 31, 2019 must take the entire amount of the IRA within 10 years after the date of the owner’s death. The exceptions are those who fall into the “Eligible Designated Beneficiary” category. That includes the surviving spouse, a child under age 18, a disabled or chronically ill beneficiary, or a beneficiary who is not more than ten years younger than the IRA owner. The Eligible Designated Beneficiary can take distributions over their life expectancy, starting in the year after the death of the IRA holder. If your estate plan intended any IRA to be paid to a trust, the trust may include a “conduit IRA” provision. This may not work under the new rules. Talk with your estate planning attorney.

IRA contributions can be made at any age, as long as there is earned income. If you have earned income and are 70 or 71, consider continuing to contribute to a Roth IRA. These assets grow tax free and qualified withdrawals are also tax free. If you plan on making Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD), you’ll be able to use that contribution (up to $100,000 per year) from the IRA to offset any RMDs for the year and not be treated as a taxable distribution.

Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act

The deadline for contributions for traditional or Roth IRAs this year is July 15, 2020. The 2019 limit is $6,000 if you are younger than 50 and $7,000 if you are 50 and older.

RMDs have been waived for 2020. This applies to life expectancy payments. It may be possible to “undo” an RMD if it meets these qualifications:

• The RMD must have been taken between February 1—May 15 and must be recontributed or rolled over prior to July 15.
• RMDs taken in January or after May 15 are not eligible.
• Only one rollover per person is permitted within the last 12 months.
• Life expectancy payments may not be rolled over.

Individuals impacted by coronavirus may be permitted to take out $100,000 from an IRA with no penalties. They are eligible if they have:

• Been diagnosed with SARS-Cov-2 or COVID-19
• A spouse or dependent has been diagnosed
• Have experienced adverse consequences as a result of being quarantined, furloughed or laid off or having work hours reduced due to the virus, are unable to work because of a lack of child care, closed or reduced hours of a business owned or operated by the individual or due to other factors, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury.
• Note that these distributions are still taxable, but the income taxes can be spread ratably over a three-year period and are not subject to the 10% early distribution penalty.

Keep careful records as it is not yet known how any of these distributions/redistributions will be accounted for through tax reporting.

Reference: Milwaukee Business Journal (June 1, 2020) “IRA planning tips for changes associated with the SECURE and CARES acts”

For more information on asset preservation and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

How Does Planning for a Special Needs Child Work? / New York, NY & White Plains, NY

“When parents start the planning process for a child with special needs, they usually work under the perception that if they create a special needs trust (SNT), the child will be taken care of and the needs will be met.”

Funding a Special Needs Trust is just the start of the planning process for families with a family member who has special needs. Strategically planning how to fund the trust so the parents’ and child’s needs are met is as important as the creation of the SNT, says the article “Funding Strategies for Special Needs Trusts” from Advisor Perspectives. Parents need to be mindful of the stability and security of their own financial planning, which is usually challenging.

Parents should keep careful records of their expenses for their child now and project those expenses into the future. Consider what expenses may not be covered by government programs. You should also evaluate the child’s overall health, medical conditions that may require special treatment and the possibility that government resources may not be available. This will provide a clear picture of the child’s needs and how much money will be needed for the SNT.

Ultimately, how much money can be put into the SNT depends upon the parents’ ability to fund it.

In some cases, it may not be realistic to count on a remaining portion of the parents’ estate to fund the SNT. The parents may need the funds for their own retirement or long-term care. It is possible to fund the trust during the parents’ lifetimes, but many SNTs are funded after the parents pass away. Most families care for their child with special needs while they are living. The trust is for when they are gone.

The asset mix to fund the SNT for most families is a combination of retirement assets, non-retirement assets and the family home. The parents need to understand the tax implications of the assets at the time of distribution. An estate planning attorney with experience in SNTs can help with this. The SECURE Act tax law changes no longer allow inherited IRAs to be stretched based on the child’s life expectancy, but a person with a disability may be able to stretch an inherited retirement asset.

Whole or permanent life insurance that ensures the parents allows the creation of an asset on a leveraged basis that provides tax-free death benefit proceeds.

Since the person with a disability will typically have their assets in an SNT, a trust with the correct language—“see-through”—will be able to stretch the assets, which may be more tax efficient, depending on the individual’s income needs.

Revocable SNTs become irrevocable upon the death of both parents. Irrevocable trusts are tax-paying entities and are taxed at a higher rate. Investing assets must be managed very carefully in an irrevocable trust to achieve the maximum tax efficiency.

It takes a village to plan for the secure future of a person with a disability. An experienced elder law attorney will work closely with the parents, their financial advisor and their accountant to create a plan that meets the family’s needs and appropriately plans for the disabled child.

Reference: Advisor Perspectives (April 29, 2020) “Funding Strategies for Special Needs Trusts”

For more information on elder law, retirement planning and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Loss of Stretch IRA is Not Such a Big Deal / Greenwich, CT & New York, NY

“The stretch IRA is dead and everyone (including me) is writing about how this is the apocalypse for IRA planning. Well, it isn’t. Let’s all take a deep breath.”

Yes, the SECURE Act has eliminated the use of the stretch IRA, which is the ability to pass an IRA down to a child or grandchild and have them take out withdrawals over their lifetime. No big deal, says the article “No stretch IRA? No problem” from Investment News. Here’s why.

Only the biggest IRAs are affected. How many IRAs actually make it to the beneficiary that are large enough to justify stretched payouts? According to the Treasury Department, only about 20% of all individuals who were required to take the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) actually stick to the schedule and take that amount out. Four out of five people who own IRAs take much more money than the minimum. This reduces the amount in the account that is left for their beneficiaries, thereby reducing and even eliminating the possibility of heirs using the stretch option.

There’s no change to spousal beneficiaries. Most married people leave their IRAs to their spouses, and surviving spouses are exempt from the new stretch restrictions. Spouses who inherit IRAs and other assets still have the same options they had before the SECURE Act was passed. Financially savvy spouses (or those with good advisors) will do a spousal rollover and further delay the “no stretch problem” for another generation. By doing this, they postpone the start of the ten-year payout rule. If they use more of the IRA during their own lifetime, again, there’s not that much to worry about.

Most beneficiaries don’t stretch. Not at all. Windfalls usually don’t last very long. How many beneficiaries wait patiently for 30, 40 or 50 years to deplete an inherited IRA? Not many. For many beneficiaries, the new ten-year rule might actually be more realistic. For the smaller IRAs, it may be more logical to empty the account with a lump-sum distribution, especially if it is distributed among several beneficiaries in low tax brackets. However, if the IRA is a Roth, hang on to it and let it grow, tax-free, for as long as possible.

Most beneficiaries are in lower tax brackets. People like to leave their IRAs to their grandchildren, but most grandchildren, under the SECURE Act, will not be able to stretch IRA payouts over their lifetime. If the grandchild is a minor, then the kiddie tax emerges, and the child might have to pay taxes on any withdrawals at their parent’s tax rates. Do your homework with your estate planning attorney.

While the inherited payout is ten years, the tax hit to younger, usually lower income earners, won’t be as bad. However, the kiddie tax could lead to a huge tax hit for your adult children and grandchildren. Another option is naming multiple grandchildren. More beneficiaries will at least stretch out the tax hit over multiple tax returns.

Speak with your estate planning attorney about what needs to change on your estate plan, in light of the new restrictions created by the SECURE Act. There are strategies that they can discuss with you to minimize the tax liability.

Reference: Investment News (March 2, 2020) “No stretch IRA? No problem”

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