Iowa Estate Plan

As David Goldman of the Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog recently noted , the IRS has announced that the annual gift tax exemption amount for 2010 will stay at $13,000.00 . This represents the amount that each individual can give to another person without having to either pay any gift tax or file a gift tax return. If you decide to make a gift in excess of the exemption amount, then it is necessary to prepare and file a gift tax return with the IRS. Whether you will have to pay any gift tax on a gift depends on how much you gifted already during your life. For more information on using the valuable estate planning tool of gifts, contact an estate planning attorney.

In a follow-up to a recent post I had on the Iowa Law Blog, Jason Clayworth of the Des Moines Register recently updated the situation concerning a young girl's application for social security benefits as a result of her father's death. A federal judge has overturned the rejection of benefits and thus permits her to receive benefits. The article continues to point out that legislators are examining long overdue updates to the Iowa statute to address these types of situations. The Social Security Administration has until January 11, 2010 to appeal. The complexities that are involved in cases like this are challenging. A recent Probate Section meeting of the Iowa State Bar began to examine some of the issues and an approach to take with this issue. The discussion revealed that there is a split in the probate section as a result of numerous questions and possible approaches. Beyond the basic philosophical question of is this "right", there other other related matt...