Estate Planning for Unmarried Cohabiting Couples: Legal and Tax Issues, Best Practices for Estate Planners
Income, Gift, and Estate Tax Implications and Planning; Revocable Trusts; Retirement Accounts; Beneficiary Designations
Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Estate Planning
- event Date
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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BARBRI is a NASBA CPE sponsor and this 110-minute webinar is accredited for 2.0 CPE credits.
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BARBRI is an IRS-approved continuing education provider offering certified courses for Enrolled Agents (EA) and Tax Return Preparers (RTRP).
This CLE/CPE webinar will provide estate planners a detailed analysis of key legal and tax considerations for structuring estate plans for unmarried cohabiting couples. The panel will discuss strategies to reduce income, gift, and estate tax liability and provide an analysis of key issues that arise as well as offer strategies to ensure the best results. The panel will provide guidance for using gifting, trusts, title transfers, and other options to pass assets to desired beneficiaries and the necessary directives that unmarried couples should have in place.
Mr. Kirk provides guidance on all aspects of estate planning and trust and estate administration. He has broad experience in multi-generational asset management and transfer planning, including estate, gift, generation-skipping transfer and income tax planning, charitable giving, philanthropy, real property matters and complex assets, such as private equity and debt. He also serves Chief Fiduciary Officer for Fiduciary Trust International of California. He regularly writes and presents on topics related to fiduciary law and estate planning.
Ms. Soliman most recently practiced in the tax and wealth department at Venable LLP in Los Angeles. She is experienced in designing and preparing complex estate plans and business succession plans for high-net-worth individuals. Ms. Soliman also assisted clients in matters ranging from trust administration and probate to Internal Revenue Service audits.
The number of unmarried couples choosing to live together prior to or in lieu of marriage has increased in recent years. Estate planners must recognize the legal and tax issues that arise for these couples and plan accordingly.
Spouses can gift unlimited amounts without using their estate and gift tax exemption, while unmarried individuals are limited annually. Similarly, there is an unlimited estate tax marital deduction between spouses and portability, allowing one taxpayer to benefit from both spouses' estate tax exclusion.
For unmarried cohabitants, knowing that their assets will be distributed to the people they choose is key. Utilizing gifts, trusts, title transfers, and other mechanisms to pass assets to desired beneficiaries and the necessary directives that unmarried cohabitants should have in place is critical to achieve optimum results.
Estate planners working with these individuals need to understand the choices available for bequests and how they affect potential estate tax liability.
Listen as our panel discusses gifting and estate tax options available to help alleviate legal and tax concerns of unmarried cohabitants.
- Overview of planning challenges for unmarried couples
- Tax implications
- Income taxes
- Gift taxes
- Estate and inheritance taxes
- Legal considerations
- Retirement accounts
- Beneficiary designations
- Wills and trusts
- Incapacity
- State considerations
The panel will review these critical issues:
- What are the estate planning challenges for unmarried couples?
- What are the income, gift, and estate tax implications?
- What gifting strategies are available to transfer assets to desired beneficiaries?
- What are the inequities between married and unmarried taxpayers in the estate and gift tax regime?
- Best practices for estate planners when establishing plans for unmarried cohabiting couples
Learning Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Identify unmarried taxpayers who would benefit from a revocable living trust
- Ascertain differences in the estate tax treatment of married and unmarried cohabitants
- Determine specific directives single individuals should have in place
- Decide how to implement gifting strategies to transfer assets as desired
- Field of Study: Taxes
- Level of Knowledge: Intermediate
- Advance Preparation: None
- Teaching Method: Seminar/Lecture
- Delivery Method: Group-Internet (via computer)
- Attendance Monitoring Method: Attendance is monitored electronically via a participant's PIN and through a series of attendance verification prompts displayed throughout the program
- Prerequisite: Three years+ business or public firm experience preparing complex tax forms and schedules, supervising other preparers or accountants. Specific knowledge and understanding of estate, gift and trust taxation including various trusts types, the unified credit, and portability.
Strafford Publications, Inc. is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of Accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE Credits. Complaints regarding registered sponsons may be submitted to NASBA through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org.
Strafford is an IRS-approved continuing education provider offering certified courses for Enrolled Agents (EA) and Tax Return Preparers (RTRP).
