Trust_Attention!!!
Chris C. Chin & Associates
Attorneys at Law
139 Centre Street, Suite 806 & 808, New York, New York 10013
Office: (212) 952-1888 Fax: (212) 925-9332
Dear Friends,
I hope that you and your family are doing well, staying healthy and safe as we all climb out of this nightmare. With vaccines now becoming more available, we have had time to reflect on events during the past year.
The year 2020, especially the latter half, was a very busy time for us, as our offices were flooded by calls from clients, both new and existing, who were suddenly reminded of their own mortality by the Pandemic. Faced with the real possibility of serious illness or possible death, clients began to rush to complete their estate planning documents, driven by the fear of dying without a Will or trust.
In addition, as the year progressed, we began to receive calls from clients who had already suspected that Trump, and the Republicans, might possibly lose the election, and wanted to take full advantage of the federal estate tax exclusion, which would surely diminish or even disappear in a Democrat-controlled government.
During our consult sessions, we were surprised to find that even those who had already set up their trusts, both revocable and irrevocable, done little more than sign the initial trust documents, without ever transferring any of their personal assets into the trusts. Worse yet, some of those who had transferred assets into their irrevocable trusts, neglected to file the requisite gift tax returns.
Setting up a revocable (living) trust and leaving it empty makes no sense, as one of the primary reasons for funding this trust is that only the assets within the trust at the person’s death avoid the probate process. With an irrevocable trust, leaving it empty makes even less sense because the main advantage of transferring assets out of one’s estate is never utilized. Finally, the failure to file a proper gift tax return when transferring assets into an irrevocable trust means wasting any tax advantage that comes from such a transfer.
If you believe or suspect that your current estate planning situation fits the above, we invite you to reach out to us to possibly set up a consult session, and to discuss any steps that may be necessary. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely yours,
Chris C. Chin, J.D., Ph.D.
Law Offices of Chris C. Chin & Associates
尊敬的各位朋友，
我們希望您和您的家人在疫情期間安全健康、一切安好。隨著疫苗的日益普及，我們可以有時間來反思去年當中的一些事件。
2020年，尤其是下半年，對於我們公司來說是一段非常繁忙的時期，因為我們的辦公室接到了大量新老客戶的電話。新冠肺炎的全球性大範圍感染使得他們突然開始重視生老病死這樣的現實問題。客戶們擔心由於沒有遺囑或建立信託，若突發大病或者死亡，財產和家庭都沒有保障，從而急於完成他們的遺產規劃文件。
此外，在這一年當中，我們開始接聽一些認為特朗普和共和黨人可能會大選失敗的客戶電話，這些客戶希望儘早充分利用現行的聯邦遺產稅法減免遺產稅。民主黨上台後，現行遺產稅法的優勢如較高的免徵額等肯定會減少甚至消失。
在提供諮詢服務時，我們驚訝地發現，即使那些已經建立了可撤銷或不可撤銷信託的客戶，除了簽署初始的信託文件外，有些客戶甚至從未將任何個人資產轉移到該信託中。更糟的是，一些將資產轉移到其不可撤銷的信託中的客戶卻沒有提交必要的贈與稅申報表。
建立可撤銷的信託卻不把任何資產轉到其中是沒有任何意義的，因為建立該信託的主要原因之一是當委託人死亡時，只有其信託中的資產避免遺囑認證程序。其次，若建立不可撤銷的信託，將其空置即不轉移任何資產到該信託也顯得毫無意義，因為該信託的主要優勢就是將個人資產轉移出遺產從而減少遺產稅，顯然委託人並未利用好這項優勢。最後，將個人資產轉移到不可撤銷的信託中卻未能提交正確的贈與稅才可以申報表，也是浪費了這種轉移資產到信託中從而帶來的稅收優惠。
如果您認為或者懷疑您當前的遺產規劃狀況符合上述條件，請您立刻與我們聯繫，我們將為您提供諮詢服務！
陈逵舟律师精英团队