California Probate - Law Offices of Janet Brewer Blog

Did Robert Redford Have a Business Exit Plan?

“Robert Redford officially bought what was once the Timp Haven Resort (now known as the Sundance Mountain Resort) in 1969. This year, he's stepped away, selling the resort to Broadreach Capital Partners and Cedar Capital Partners. While we don't know how much the resort was sold for, the structure of the sale shows how this iconic real estate investor has built a successful exit strategy.”

Motley Fool’s recent article titled “What Robert Redford's Sale of Sundance Can Teach Investors About Exit Planning” says that, in announcing the sale, Redford told the Salt Lake Tribune that he’s been thinking of selling for several years. However, he wanted to find the right partners. Broadreach and Cedar plan to upgrade the resort, add hotel rooms and build a new inn. The companies have also said that they will keep the resort sustainable and practicing measured growth, as well as also continuing to host the Sundance Film Festival.

The 2,600-acre resort has 1,845 acres of land saved from future development through a conservation easement and protective covenants. The 84-year-old actor has had a lifelong interest in the environment and in land stewardship. Redford and his family have also arranged with Utah Open Lands to create the Redford Family Elk Meadows Preserve at the base of Mt. Timpanogos. The gift will reduce Redford's tax liability on his estate.

Both Broadreach and Cedar have extensive hospitality experience, but neither looks to have much ski resort experience. However, they're working with Bill Jensen, an industry legend, who recently left his role as CEO of Telluride Ski and Golf Resort in Colorado.

Business exit and succession planning can be difficult—in part, because people don't like to address such unwelcome topics. Most investors don't have the luxury of waiting years to find the right buyer, but the Redford deal does show that planning ahead may be critical to creating a mechanism that supports the vision for the property.

When selling a large investment property, you must first understand why you're selling, and your desired end result. Of course, a return on investment is nice, but there may be other considerations, like in Redford's case. Another key is ascertaining the updated worth of what you're selling. Get a valuation, especially with an irreplaceable asset.

The structure of the sale is important. You will likely be liable for tax on your capital gains, so ask an attorney. If you're also structuring your estate plans at the same time, you'll need to know what amount you can give and what your heirs may have to pay. Talk to an experienced estate planning attorney to be certain that you’re covering all the bases.

Reference: Motley Fool (Dec. 12, 2020) “What Robert Redford's Sale of Sundance Can Teach Investors About Exit Planning”

Is a Tax Change a Good Time to Check My Will?

A last will and testament can make certain that your goals for legacy and asset disposition are satisfied and carried out. However, what most people fail to grasp is that a will needs regular review—especially if the document was written or involved the creation of a trust prior to passage of tax reform, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), in 2017, says Financial Advisor’s recent article entitled “Tax Changes Make This A Good Time To Revise A Will.”

Wills can pass on assets, but taxes have come to greatly impact how much money is passed on. People usually understand the primary components, including the tax implications, of their wills.

These include:

• The unlimited marital deduction
• Applying current rules to make non-taxable gifts of up to $15,000 per person
• The current estate tax exemption of $11.58 million
• Health care directives
• Naming trustees and executors; and
• Creating long-term trusts with non-taxable asset transfers.

Wills and trusts were created prior to the passage of the TCJA may not consider that reform changed the amount which can be exempted from estate taxes.

The law more than doubled the amount that can be exempted from estate taxes. The potential tax changes could cause many more Americans to have a taxable estate, and it’s important to have a full understanding of your assets and carefully decide who you want to receive them. You must also decide if you want them passed outright or through a trust.

Privacy is a good reason why some people often prefer trusts. They also like the quick processing and avoiding probate.

Estate plans should be reviewed every few years, and wills should be reviewed more frequently because life changes are the biggest reason for trouble in revising wills.

Divorce, separation or marriage; the birth or adoption of children, as well as a child reaching adulthood; and changes to finances, location, and health all can play important roles.

Reference: Financial Advisor (Nov. 9, 2020) “Tax Changes Make This A Good Time To Revise A Will”

Incorporating Gifting with an Estate Plan

“Gifting sounds pretty simple, but there are many ways to do it. There are also several tax ramifications to be aware of.”

Kiplinger’s recent article entitled “Gifting sounds pretty simple, but there are many ways to do it, and several tax ramifications to be aware of as well” explains that no matter if a gift is made this year or in future years, there are some important questions to consider.

Increased exemption. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act significantly upped the lifetime gift, estate and generation-skipping tax exemption to $11.58 million per individual ($23.16 million per couple). It’s set to expire at the end of 2025. Thus, there’s the prospect of possibly losing an opportunity to transfer wealth out of your estate and save on future estate taxes earlier than anticipated.

When to Give. A big question is whether a person should give away assets during their lifetime or at their death. Those who opt to gift while they’re alive often do so to reduce their estate and to share in the joy of seeing the effect it makes in the lives of the recipients. Others decide to gift after death for the security of having the assets on hand, if they’re needed. Gifting after death also gives recipients time to prepare for the responsibility that comes along with inheriting wealth.

Unified Federal Estate & Gift Tax Exemption. There are many ways to distribute assets. What works for one family isn’t necessarily the wisest strategy for another. Note that any transfer is gift tax-free up to the annual exclusion amount ($15,000 per person per donor in 2020). Any gift over this amount will count against the donor’s lifetime exemption amount. After that lifetime exemption is used, the gift will be subject to gift tax.

Outright cash gifts. This appears to be the most uncomplicated way of gifting. However, for those with significant wealth, this approach could have some drawbacks. These concern the ability and experience gift recipients have to manage money, outside risks, such as a spouse or high-risk professions, and demotivating recipients to live off their inheritance, instead of becoming productive on their own. Therefore, distributing large amounts of money—particularly at a young age—is generally discouraged.

Trusts. These are used frequently for larger gifts to provide for beneficiaries, while using controls by the grantor. These parameters can include things like distributing trust assets in stages (when the beneficiary reaches a certain age or achieves a specific goal). You can also leave assets in a discretionary lifetime trust, which would maintain the assets in a trust for the beneficiary’s entire lifetime. When set up by an experienced estate planning attorney, this offers a high level of protection from divorcing spouses, lawsuits, poor financial decisions and outside influences. It can also let the grantor create a lasting family legacy for many generations.

Gifts for education or medical expenses. Direct payments for college tuition or for medical expenses have no gift tax consequences. Educational gifts can also be made by funding a 529 educational savings plan. While there are no contribution limits for a 529 plan, gifts over the annual exclusion amount can have gift tax consequences or count against the lifetime exemption. You can also pre-fund an account up to $75,000 and it will receive the same tax treatment, as if it were gifted in $15,000 increments over five years.

Uniform Trust to Minors Act (UTMA) and Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA). These custodial accounts are generally less restrictive than trusts and let minor beneficiaries access funds at age a specific age depending on state of residence.

You can read more about how our process works, how we can make sure we are a good fit for your needs, and how to get started today right here.

Reference: Kiplinger (Oct. 30, 2020) “Gifting sounds pretty simple, but there are many ways to do it, and several tax ramifications to be aware of as well.”

Will I Owe Taxes on My Life Insurance Benefit?

“Life insurance is an essential part of estate planning. When you buy life insurance, it's important to make sure the policy payout will be enough to take care of your loved ones.”

MoneyWise’s recent article entitled “Are Life Insurance Benefits Taxable?” explains that, although the proceeds from a life insurance policy are usually tax-free, there are some exceptions. Life insurance payouts may be subject to taxes in the following situations:

A high-value estate. The federal estate tax exemption is $11.58 million this year, so if you leave an estate worth more than that, the IRS will charge a tax of 18% to 40% on the excess amount. It’s possible that life insurance proceeds could get taxed, if they're part of a high-dollar estate. To avoid this, you could create an irrevocable living trust to shield your assets from taxation. Ask an experienced estate planning attorney for help.

State inheritance or estate tax. Estate and inheritance tax laws are different in every state, so your estate or heirs may have to pay taxes on the death benefit, depending on where you reside. There are six states that have inheritance taxes (IA, KY, MD, NE, NJ, and PA). There are also a dozen states and the District of Columbia that have their own estate taxes (CT, HI, IL, ME, MD, MA, MN, NY, OR, RI, VT and WA).

Gifts. You can also avoid estate or inheritance taxes by transferring your life insurance policy to a beneficiary, while you're still around. You may have to pay a federal gift tax on the value of the policy when you do it, but the policy will be worth far less than the eventual death benefit. You can gift up to $15,000 a year to an individual without any tax. Remember that the policy's new owner will still have to make the payments.

The death benefit skips a generation. If you decide to skip your child and give the death benefit to your grandchild, the money would be considered taxable income by the IRS. That’s due to the "generation skipping transfer tax," which applies if you give any gift or inheritance to a family member who's more than one generation younger than you — or to a nonrelative who's more than 37½ years younger.

Life insurance installment pay-out. While life insurance benefits are typically paid out in a lump sum, some people opt to have their benefits paid out over time. I you do this, tell your heirs that they’ll have taxes on any interest that's added to the benefits, while they're being kept by the insurance company.

Withdrawal from your cash value of life insurance. With permanent life insurance policies that cover you for life (as opposed to time term life), there’s a savings component called “cash value.” During the life of the policy, some of your paid premiums funds the cash value account. You can make a withdrawal from this amount, provided you make a withdrawal that’s less than the amount you've paid into the policy. Otherwise, it’s taxed.

Group life insurance policies. Many companies offer life insurance as a benefit to their employees. If you have a policy at your job, the premiums won’t be taxable income unless the promised life insurance payout is more than $50,000.

Selling your life insurance policy. If you sell your life insurance policy for cash to a buyer or investor who will continue to make the payments and will receive the death benefit when you die, you'll have taxes on any income from the sale.

If you still have questions about how insurance contracts work, speak to an experienced estate planning attorney.

Reference: MoneyWise (Oct. 12, 2020) “Are Life Insurance Benefits Taxable?”

How Do I Keep Money in the Family?

“If you're single and die in 2020, you can have up to $11.58 million in assets before your heirs have to worry about paying a penny in estate taxes.”

That seems like an awfully large amount of money. You might think only the super wealthy need to worry about estate planning, but you'd be wrong to think planning is only necessary for the 1%.

US News and World Report’s recent article entitled “5 Estate Planning Tips to Keep Your Money in the Family” reminds us that estate taxes may be only part of it. In many cases, there are income tax ramifications.

Your heirs may have to pay federal income taxes on retirement accounts. Some states also have their own estate taxes. You also want to make certain that your assets are transferred to the right people. Speaking with an experienced estate planning attorney is the best way to sort through complex issues surrounding estate planning. Here are some things you should cover:

Create a Will. This is a basic first step. However, 68% of Americans don’t take it. Many of those who don't have a will (about a third) say it's because they don't have enough assets to make it worthwhile. This is not true. Without a will, your estate is governed by state law and will be divided in probate court. Ask an experienced estate planning attorney to help you draft a will.  You should also review it on a regular basis because laws and family situations can change.

Review Your Beneficiaries. There are specific types of accounts, like retirement funds and life insurance in which the owners designate the beneficiaries, rather than this asset passing via the will. The named beneficiaries will also supersede any directions for the accounts in your will. Like your will, review your account beneficiaries after any major life change.

Consider a Trust. Ask an experienced estate planning attorney about a trust for possible tax benefits and the ability to control when a beneficiary gets their money (after they graduate college or only for a first home, for example). If money is put in an irrevocable trust, the assets no longer belong to you. Instead, they belong to the trust. That money can’t be subject to estate taxes. In addition, a trust isn't subject to probate, which keeps it private.

Convert to Roth’s. If you have a traditional 401(k) or IRA account, it might unintentionally create a hefty tax bill for your heirs. When your children inherit an IRA, they inherit the income tax liability that goes with it. Regular income tax must be paid on distributions from all traditional retirement accounts. In the past, non-spousal heirs, such as children could “stretch” those distributions over their lifetime to reduce the total amount of taxes due. However, now the account must be completely liquidated within 10 years after the death of the owner. If the account balance is substantial, it could necessitate major distributions that may be taxed at a higher rate. To avoid leaving beneficiaries with a large tax bill, you can gradually convert traditional accounts to Roth accounts that have tax-free distributions. The amount converted will be taxable on your income taxes, so the objective is to limit each year's conversion, so it doesn't move you into a higher tax bracket.

Make Gifts While You’re Alive. A great way to make certain that your money stays in the family, is to just give it to your heirs while you're alive. The IRS allows individuals to give up to $15,000 per person per year in gifts. If you're concerned about your estate being taxable, these gifts can decrease its value, and the money is tax-free for recipients.

Charitable Donations. You can also reduce your estate value, by making charitable donations. Ask an experienced estate planning attorney about setting up a donor-advised fund, instead of making a one-time gift. This would give you an immediate tax deduction for money deposited in the fund and then let you make charitable grants over time. You could designate a child or grandchild as a successor in managing the fund.

Complicated strategies and a constantly changing tax code can make estate planning feel intimidating. However, ignoring it can be a costly mistake for your heirs. Talk to an estate planning attorney.

If you have any questions about your current estate plan, please call or email us today.

Reference: US News and World Report (Sep. 30, 2020) “5 Estate Planning Tips to Keep Your Money in the Family”

What’s the Best Way to Go with Intrafamily Loans?

“As parents, we often want to help our adult children who need a financial boost. Many times, this assistance comes in the form of a loan.”

Loans are a terrific way for parents to foster a child’s independence, encourage responsibility and signal their confidence that their child can succeed on their own.  They also don’t use any of your lifetime gift tax exemption ($11.58 million per person).

Kiplinger’s recent article entitled “Gifts vs. Loans: Don’t Be Generous to a Fault” tells the story of Mary Bolles. The case illustrates that parents’ actions and expectations as to repayment of the loan can recharacterize the “loan” to a taxable “gift.” That can mean unintended gift tax consequences. Mary was the mother of five who made numerous loans to each of her children. She kept copious records of each loan and any repayments. Between 1985 and 2007, she loaned her son Peter about $1.06 million to support his business ventures — despite the fact that it soon was clear he wouldn’t be able to make any more payments on the loans. None of the loans to Peter was ever formally documented, and Mary never tried to enforce the collection of any of the loans. 

In late 1989, Mary created a revocable living trust, which specifically excluded Peter from any distribution of her estate when she died. While she later amended her trust to no longer exclude him, she included a formula to account for the “loans” he received in making distributions to her children. After her death, the IRS said that the entire amount of the loans, plus accrued interest, was part of her estate. They assessed the estate with a tax deficiency of $1.15 million.  The estate said the entire amount was a gift.

At trial, the court considered the factors to be weighed in deciding whether the advances were loans or gifts. Noting that the determination depends not only on how the loan was structured and documented, the court also explained that in the case of an intra-family loan, a major factor is whether there was an actual expectation of repayment and intent to enforce the debt.

The court compromised and held that any advances prior to 1990 were loans (about $425,000), since the evidence suggested that Mary reasonably expected that Peter would repay the loans, until he was disinherited from her trust in late 1989. The court said that the money given to Peter after he was disinherited — from 1990 onward — were gifts.

The decision shows that if you’re considering taking advantage of the elevated gift tax exemption before it sunsets, you should review any outstanding family loan transactions. You should see the extent to which those loans may have been transmuted into gifts over the years—which may adversely impact the amount of your remaining available exemption. The safest way to do this would be to consult an experienced estate planning attorney, who can help you safely navigate these complex rules.

To be safe, follow these simple steps:

1. Document the loan transaction between the lender and borrower.
2. Charge interest based on the government rates (AFR), which are published monthly.
3. Make sure the borrower will have enough net worth to likely repay the loan. 
4. Get a copy of the borrower’s financial statement.
5. If the loan sets out periodic payments, make certain these are made on time.
6. Report the interest income you receive from the borrower on your income tax return.

Make sure that you do any intra-family loans properly to avoid any future issues.

Reference: Kiplinger (Oct. 7, 2020) “Gifts vs. Loans: Don’t Be Generous to a Fault”

Protecting Inheritance from the Taxman

“Received an inheritance of cash, investments, or property? Here are four ways that can help you keep it from being swallowed up by taxes.”

Wealth Advisor’s recent article entitled “4 Ways to Protect Your Inheritance from Taxes” explains that inheritances aren’t considered income for federal tax purposes—whether it’s cash, investments or property. However, any subsequent earnings on the inherited assets are taxable, unless it comes from a tax-free source. You must report the interest income on your taxes. Any gains when you sell inherited investments or property are also taxable (but you can usually also claim losses on these sales). Remember that state taxes on inheritances vary, so ask an experienced estate planning attorney for details. Let’s look at fours steps you can take to protect your inheritance:

Look at the alternate valuation date. The basis of property in a decedent’s estate is the fair market value (FMV) of the property on the date of death, but the executor might use the alternate valuation date, which is six months after the date of death. This is only available, if it will decrease both the gross amount of the estate and the estate tax liability, typically resulting in a larger inheritance to the beneficiaries. If the estate isn’t subject to estate tax, then the valuation date is the date of death.

Use a trust. If you know you’re getting an inheritance, ask that they create a trust for the assets. A trust lets you to pass assets to beneficiaries after your death without probate.

Minimize retirement account distributions. Inherited retirement assets aren’t taxable, until they’re distributed. There are rules as to when the distributions must happen. If one spouse dies, the surviving spouse usually can take over the IRA as his or her own. Required minimum distributions (RMDs) would begin at age 72, just as they would for the surviving spouse's own IRA. However, if you inherit a retirement account from someone not your spouse, you can transfer the funds to an inherited IRA in your name. You have to start taking minimum distributions the year of or the year after the inheritance, even if you're not yet 72.

Make some gifts. It may be wise to give some of your inheritance to others. It will be a benefit to them, but it could also potentially offset the taxable gains on your inheritance with the tax deduction you get for donating to a charitable organization. If want to leave money to people when you die, you can give annual gifts to your beneficiaries while you're still living up to a certain amount—$15,000 for to each person without being subject to gift taxes. Gifting also reduces the size of your estate, which can be important if you're close to the taxable amount. Talk with an experienced estate planning attorney to be certain that you're staying current with the frequent changes to estate tax laws.

Wealth Advisor (Sep. 15, 2020) “4 Ways to Protect Your Inheritance from Taxes”

How Can I Help with My Grandchild’s College Tuition?

“Part of estate planning includes helping with the ever-escalating costs of education for children and grandchildren.”

To assist with college tuition for younger children or grandchildren, you may want to defer the receipt of funds, until the child or grandchild needs to pay for tuition down the road. You can make a gift into a custody account or into a trust that qualifies as a current gift under the Uniform Gifts to Minor’s Act, or you can fund a Qualified Tuition Plan under IRC Section 529.

Forbes’ recent article entitled “Estate Planning Primer: Qualified Tuition Plans” explains that there are two kinds of 529 programs: prepaid plans and savings plans. The advantage of a 529 plan over a Unified Gift to Minors Act plan is that the earnings on the assets in the 529 plan aren't taxed, until the funds are distributed. The distributions are also tax-free up to the amount of the student's "qualified higher education expenses."

Prepaid Programs: Some colleges let you buy tuition credits or certificates at the current tuition rates, even though your grandchild won't be starting college for several years. This allows you to lock in today’s rates for her enrollment some years later. This move can resultant in substantial savings, since tuition continues to rise at most institutions.

Savings Programs: Similar to a Traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, tuition amounts covered by a savings plan are dependent on the investment performance of the money you have in the plan. If it grows, more cost can be covered. But if it declines, less will be covered. Therefore, it is good to be conservative, if the need for distributions is nearing soon.

Qualified Higher Education Expenses: Tuition (including up to $10,000 in tuition for an elementary or secondary public, private, or religious school), fees, books, supplies, and required equipment, as well as reasonable room and board are qualified expenses, if the student is enrolled at least half-time. Distributions in excess of qualified expenses are taxed to the student, if they represent earnings on the account. A 10% penalty tax is also imposed.

Beneficiary: The beneficiary of the program is specified when you start the funding. However, you are able to change the beneficiary or roll over the funds in the program to another plan for the same or a different beneficiary without income tax liability.

Eligible Schools: Any college, university, vocational school, or other post-secondary school eligible to participate in a student aid program of the Department of Education will be eligible schools for these programs.

The contributions made to the qualified tuition program are treated as gifts to the student. They qualify for the annual gift tax exclusion ($15,000 per person per year for 2020) adjusted annually for inflation. If your contributions in a year exceed the exclusion amount, you can elect to take the contributions into account over a five-year period starting with the year of the contributions.

Note that you may not be able to make the distributions from the program when a very young (or unborn) beneficiary goes to college, so name an alternative custodian, perhaps a parent of a grandchild, to make distributions for you.

Reference: Forbes (Aug. 5, 2020) “Estate Planning Primer: Qualified Tuition Plans”

Can I Bequeath My Home to My Children without Taxes?

“You would like to pass a house tax-free to your heirs. After all, you want to give them a gift, not the burden of taxes. How do you do that?”

As part of your estate planning, you can pass your house tax-free to an heir. savingadvice.com’s recent article entitled “Use These Tips to Pass Your House to Your Heirs Tax-Free” reminds us that the most important thing is to look at the total value of your entire estate (not just your home). If the value is more than $11.58 million (the unified federal estate gift and estate tax exemption amount for 2020), then your estate will be subject to estate taxes. If it’s under that amount, there’s no worries, and you can pass a house tax-free through a will. However, you may also have state estate taxes on the inheritance.

Ask an experienced estate planning attorney about the potential capital gains taxes your heirs may have to pay when they sell the property. If you owe any money to Medicaid upon your death, the state can place a lien on your property, which can affect your heirs. Let’s look at some options to discuss with your estate planning attorney:

Irrevocable Trust. If you have an estate that’s more than the $11.58 million amount, you might want to look at putting the house into an irrevocable trust, instead of just including it in your will. Ask your attorney about a qualified personal residence trust. When you die, the house will go to the heir(s) that you’ve designated with the trust. However, if you sell the house, the money goes into the trust and can’t be cashed out if the situation changes. It’s something to consider if you have a high-value estate and want to pass a house tax-free to your children or other loved ones.

As a Gift. You can gift a house to your children, and there will be no taxes on that if the value of your home is less than the $11.58 million. However, you must file a gift tax form when you do your annual taxes. As long as the value is below that amount, it should just be a matter of filing the form and not paying any fees.

Look at the total value of your estate and your home. File a gift tax form with the IRS in the year that you gift the home and offset the total amount of the gift by first using your annual gift-tax exclusion of $15,000. This is per donee and per donor, so if you and your spouse jointly own the property and you gift it to multiple children, you can up the exclusion amount.

You shouldn’t apply for Medicaid within five years of gifting your home to your child, because there may be a transfer penalty if you gift assets just before applying for Medicaid benefits.

Can You Sell the House and Gift the Money? You can sell the home at current market value, then gift that money to your child. You can do this in a will or trust or give it to them directly. You could also sell the home to your child at a very low price. They’d get the house and can sell it themselves at a higher value when the time is right for them to do so. However, they may have to pay higher taxes when they do.

Selling your Home to Your Child for $1? OK, you’re technically selling the house, so it’s not a gift. However, the remainder of the value of the house is considered a gift, so the gift tax rules still apply. If your child sells the house, they must report the entire difference as a gain, which means capital gains taxes.

If you want to sell your house to your child, you should consider selling it to them with a small down payment as a seller-financed sale. You’ll carry the note for the balance, and your adult child will make affordable payments. You can even offset what they pay you, by gifting them up to $15,000 per year (which is low enough not to trigger the gift tax). Since you’ve sold the home, it’s no longer a part of your estate, so you don’t have to worry about taxes on your end.

If you have any questions about your current estate plan and real estate issues like this, please call or email us today.

Reference: savingadvice.com (July 29, 2020) “Use These Tips to Pass Your House to Your Heirs Tax-Free”

State Laws Have an Impact on Your Estate

“I am a resident of Florida. I would like to leave my condo in Florida to my friend’s daughter, who I consider my stepdaughter, after my death. She is a resident of New Jersey and they would use the condo as a vacation home. Will she be considered my daughter for tax purposes, and which state’s tax laws will count?”

Nj.com’s recent article entitled “Will N.J. or Florida’s tax laws affect this inheritance?” notes that first, the fact that the individual from Florida isn’t legally married is important.

However, if she’s a Florida resident, Florida rules will matter in this scenario about the vacation condo.

Florida doesn’t have an inheritance tax, and it doesn’t matter where the beneficiary lives. For example, the state of New Jersey won’t tax a Florida inheritance.

Although New Jersey does have an inheritance tax, the state can’t tax inheritances for New Jersey residents, if the assets come from an out-of-state estate.

If she did live in New Jersey, there is no inheritance tax on “Class A” beneficiaries, which include spouses, children, grandchildren, and stepchildren.

However, the issue in this case is the fact that her “daughter” isn’t legally her daughter. Her friend’s daughter would be treated by the tax rules as a friend.

You can call it what you want. However, legally, if she’s not married to her friend, she doesn’t have a legal relationship with her daughter.

As a result, the courts and taxing authorities will treat both persons as non-family.

The smart thing to do with this type of issue is to talk with an experienced estate planning attorney who is well-versed in both states’ laws to determine whether there are any protections available. You can read more about how our process works, how we can make sure we are a good fit for your needs, and how to get started today right here.

Reference: nj.com (July 23, 2020) “Will N.J. or Florida’s tax laws affect this inheritance?”