03 April

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Probate Question: Am I responsible for my half sister’s debts after she passed away?

By: Mark L. Dodds, Esq., Partner at Grant Morris Dodds

Question: Am I responsible for my half sister’s debts after she passed away?

Question Detail: My father is trying to get me to renounce my rights in favor of him regarding a half sister I have not seen in twenty years; he says I will be responsible for her debts if I do not sign the papers. Is this a fact? Am I responsible for someone else’s debts since she has passed away?

Answer: The fact that your father is trying to scare you into giving him an interest in your half-sister’s estate suggests to me that there must be some reason why he wants to get control of this estate, that reason most likely being that the value of her estate exceeds the debts of her estate.

There is no reasonable scenario that I can think of where it may be possible that your father is trying to do you a favor; instead, it is likely he is trying to scare you into giving up a valuable inheritance.

In the first place, a person’s death cannot cause you to ever be liable for the debts of the one who died unless you were already a co-signer with the decedent on a debt. Furthermore, your act of accepting or rejecting your rights in the decedent’s estate will have absolutely no effect on your liability for any such debts.

Since you have not seen your half-sister for 20 years, it is virtually certain that you are not a co-debtor on any of her debts, so you will incur no risk of liability in refusing to release your interest in her estate. And if it should be that the value of her estate is sufficient to cover any of your half-sister’s debts, then you will be entitled to your share of the estate after those debts are paid.

19 March

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Back Door Tax Hike–Bad for Nevada Business

Posted by GMD Legal

in Estate Tax Planning

On Thursday of last week the interim Legislative Subcommittee on Regulations approved a rule that now requires limited liability companies (LLCs) to pay an annual $200 business license tax, which is assessed and collected by the Nevada Secretary of State. This new regulation prevents LLCs from claiming an exemption to the tax for home-based businesses that earn less than $27,000 per year. Nevada Secretary of State, Ross Miller, sought the rule because he says hundreds of LLCs wrongly claim the exemption. The new regulation will cost businesses an estimated $10 million per year, and that does not touch upon the significant loss of new...

01 March

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Obama’s New Tax Proposals

Posted by David M. Grant

in Estate Tax Planning

By David M. Grant, Esq., Partner at Grant Morris Dodds Recently President Obama released his 2013 budget proposal. Following is a summary of his budget points as it relates to income tax, estate tax, gift tax, and Generation Skipping Transfer (GST) tax reform: Limitation on Itemized Deductions and Personal Exemption Phase-out. The proposal would reinstate the limitation on itemized deductions and the personal exemption phase-out for upper-income taxpayers. The Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) thresholds would return to the 2009 levels, and would be indexed for inflation thereafter. The thresholds would be $250,000 for married taxpayers filing joint returns, $225,000 for head-of household taxpayers,...

23 January

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Achieving Asset Anonymity

Posted by Mark L. Dodds

in Asset Protection

By: Mark L. Dodds, Esq., Partner at Grant Morris Dodds

We often receive inquiries from clients looking for asset protection services who wish to achieve greater anonymity regarding their assets, including real estate, investment accounts, business holdings, and so forth.

It is important to understand that “hiding” assets is not a valid principle in asset protection. In the event a person is sued and has a judgment rendered against him, he may be put under oath in a debtor’s examination and, under penalty of perjury (a felony), he must disclose his assets to the questioning authority.

So merely holding assets in a name not readily traceable back to you should not be viewed as a good way to protect your assets. Nevertheless, keeping a lower profile, maintaining privacy, and generally avoiding the spotlight are viable reasons for obtaining anonymity, at least for certain people.

05 January

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Handicapping the Future Estate Tax Exemptions

Posted by Mark L. Dodds

in Estate Tax Planning

By: Mark L. Dodds, Esq., Partner at Grant Morris Dodds

So here we are, more than one year after the change in the estate tax law which temporarily at least has repealed the 2010 repeal of the estate tax, replacing it with a $5 million exemption. But the $5 million exemption is not all bad, considering most estate tax pundits never would have predicted the repeal would have seen the light of day, even for the one year for which the repeal actually was effective.

There were several high profile deaths in 2010 where the heirs really hit the jackpot, among the most notable being the heirs of George Steinbrenner who inherited the $1.5 billion New York Yankees franchise entirely free of estate tax. If Mr. Steinbrenner had died one year earlier, the heirs would have had the federal government as a 55% partner in the storied New York team; had Steinbrenner died a year later, in 2011, the federal government would have been only a 35% partner. Either way, Mr. Steinbrenner got it just right, assuming there can be a right time to die.

15 November

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Upside-Down Property at Death

Posted by Mark L. Dodds

in Estate Planning

Mark Dodds, Esq. discusses your estate planning process and options when dealing with real property that is upside down:

If the property is upside-down, it is best to leave the property out of a trust. Then, when the person with the trust dies, the trustee has no obligation as to the mortgage because the mortgage is not a debt of the trust as long as the trust is not a guarantor on the mortgage (and it is rare that the trust is a guarantor, but if it were, then the trustee would have to follow the procedure described below.)

So where the trust does not own the real estate and has no obligation on the mortgage, the trustee can do his normal notice to creditors, which gives creditors of the trust 90 days to file their claim, and if no claims are filed, or after any claims are filed and paid, then the trustee can distribute the trust estate. It is unlikely that the mortgage holder will pick up on the notice to creditors, and since the estate, which holds the upside down property, is a separate legal entity from the trust, the trustee has no duties concerning the mortgage, and can proceed to distribute the trust estate even though the home is upside down.

19 October

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Wealth Planning and Asset Protection Seminar

Posted by GMD Legal

in Grant Morris Dodds

SECURE YOUR LEGACY You have worked long and hard to achieve success and build wealth for you and your family. Now, your focus is likely to start shifting to preserving your wealth for your family and philanthropic causes. This seminar is designed to provide you with the information and estate planning tools you need to help you preserve, protect and transfer your wealth to your family or other beneficiaries. Grant Morris Dodds along with wealth planning advisors Mitchell and Jessica Horst from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney invite you to attend this Wealth Planning and Asset Protection Seminar. Admission is free, however, seating is...

07 September

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A New Law Firm, A Continuing Tradition of Service

Posted by GMD Legal

in Grant Morris Dodds

From the time Mark Dodds began his practice of estate planning and probate in Nevada more than 20 years ago, and continuing through his 6 and 7 years of association with Robert L. Morris and David M. Grant, respectively, the attorneys of Grant Morris Dodds have had the opportunity of working with literally thousands of clients and their families, from the initial preparation of estate planning documents and, for many, all the way to the administration of those estate plans they helped their clients to initiate. Their many years of combined experience give David, Bob and Mark each a unique and comprehensive...