Insights

In today’s rapidly appreciating real estate market, it is oftentimes desirable for asset protection purposes to separate the ownership of real property from the ownership of an operating business that utilizes the real property, particularly when the operating business is especially susceptible to lawsuits for malpractice or negligence. For example,…

Decoupling. No, I am not going to discuss divorce, or trains, or what happens after love bugs hit your windshield. To an estates and trusts attorney, “decoupling” has a much more ominous meaning. Estate taxes — state estate taxes. As you know by now, federal legislation enacted in 2001 phases…

In the Fall 2004 Legal Update, I wrote about some tax deductions available to those that incurred uninsured losses as a result of the recent Florida hurricanes. This article focuses on a related topic; the taxation of the receipt of insurance proceeds for insured losses with respect to property damaged…

Well, I thought about writing an article for this newsletter that would track the history of conveyance law, perhaps even a discussion of the Grantor-Grantee index, or the technical examination of abstracts. It occurred to me that this would be about as interesting as reading the Tax Code. Instead of…

As 2003 is coming to an end, many people begin to reflect on the year past and begin to plan for the upcoming new year. While estate and tax planning is not often the foremost concern, it is important to remember that a well devised estate plan balances tax considerations…