Cummings & Lockwood LLC
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Estate Planning for Individuals Whose Circumstances Have Changed as a Result of Divorce or Remarriage

November 2018

Susan Huffard, a trusts and estates attorney in Cummings & Lockwood’s Private Clients Group in Greenwich, Connecticut, discusses the many ways in which a divorce or remarriage can impact an individual’s estate planning needs.  (15:48)

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Practical Steps to Take When Downsizing from a Home

November 2018

Kathleen M. Merrigan, a residential real estate attorney in Cummings & Lockwood’s Private Clients Group in Greenwich, Connecticut, discusses the tax and practical steps individuals should be taking before they downsize, including figuring out the cost basis in their home, preparing for sale, cleaning up open permits, and resolving the estate tax lien from a predeceased spouse.  (11:00)

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Estate Planning for an Individual in Their Later Life

November 2018

Daniel P. Fitzgerald, a trusts and estates attorney in Cummings & Lockwood’s Private Clients Group in Greenwich, Connecticut, discusses how to navigate the sensitive issues surrounding the incapacity and last days of an individual’s life, including deathbed gifts, funding of revocable trusts, simplification of asset base and step up in basis planning.  (17:28)

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Connecticut and Federal Tax Law Changes

November 2017

This presentation addresses recent Connecticut state tax law changes, as well as those being proposed at the Federal level.  (19:23)

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When and to Whom Does a Trust Pay Income Tax?

November 2017

This presentation provides a comprehensive review of how trusts, including grantor trusts, are taxed and the states to avoid.  (18:40)

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Unhappy with the Terms of a Trust? Decanting the Problem Away

November 2017

This presentation reviews how to draft trusts with flexibility and built-in asset protection features, as well as how to use decanting to “fix” problematic trusts to address changes in circumstances when old trusts are not flexible enough.  (32:01)

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Estate Planning with Portability and Higher Exemption Amounts

November 2017

This presentation discusses why traditional estate plans are still relevant in the era of portability and increasing exemption amounts, as well as how to build flexibility into traditional structures to maximize federal and state estate tax exemptions and generation-skipping transfer tax vehicles.  (13:36)

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Don’t Kill the Estate Plan -Titling Brokerage Accounts (and Other Assets) in Coordination with Estate Planning Documents

November 2017

This presentation addresses the common misconceptions about how bank and brokerage accounts and other assets should be titled for estate planning purposes.  (17:37)

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Intra-Family Loans: Efficient, Simple and Powerful Estate Planning Tools

November 2017

This presentation discusses why families should be using intra family loans to minimize the impact of estate taxes, given the fact that interest rates are still near historic lows.  (14:14)

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Keeping Your Client's Name Out of the Press: Obscuring Title to Real Estate

November 2017

This presentation reviews the various techniques that can be used to insure that a client’s desire for privacy is met when buying or selling a home.  (13:48)

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Planning for the Transfer of a Hedge Fund or Private Equity Interest

November 2017

This presentation outlines the planning available for owners of hedge funds or private equity firms, including techniques such as GRATs and Installment Sales, Derivative Overlays, and the Vertical Slice Safe Harbor rules.  (25:11)

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Trump's Tax Plan

November 2016

This presentation discusses what we know so far about President Trump’s proposed individual income tax and estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax plans, as well as what remains unknown at this point about the future of these taxes.  (5:33)

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