UNCOMPLICATING (MARYLAND ESTATE TAX)

By Timothy S. Barkley, Sr. April 2015. “Let’s talk about uncomplicating your estate plan. “When your plan was created in 2005, the federal estate tax exemption had just risen to $1.5 million. The Maryland estate tax exemption was $1.0 million. Do you have any idea...

LESS TAXING (MARYLAND ESTATE TAX EXEMPTION)

By Timothy S. Barkley, Sr. March 2015. First, the phone call: “Can you look over our wills and trusts? It’s been a few years, and we want somebody to make sure they’re up-to-date.” Certainly. Let’s get together. Next week? The meeting. “We had this done about ten...

FEEDING YOUR TRUST

By Tim Barkley. March 2013. Now that you’ve set up your living trust, you need to feed it to make it grow. In legal parlance, you need to “fund” your trust. The benefits of a living trust – probate avoidance, privacy, efficiency, estate tax avoidance – may be...

REVOCABLE LIVING TRUSTS

By Tim Barkley. February 2013. One of the most commonly employed planning tools on today’s estate planner’s workbench is the revocable living trust. Revocable. Living. Trust. Separate ideas rolled into one planning tool that might be right for you. A TRUST is a...