Josh Rolph, director of international trade, farm policy, taxation and plant health for the California Farm Bureau Federation stated in a recent article in AgAlert: "The message we have sent to Capitol Hill is that the estate tax unfairly hits farm estates due to the way the assets are held and the intrinsic value placed in maintaining the family farm."

Jim McDermott (D-WA), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, introduced HR 3467 the “Sensible Estate Tax Act of 2011”. According to a press release by Congressman McDermott: “This legislation will take us back to an estate tax that worked during one of America’s most prolonged periods of economic prosperity. It provides the kind of certainty that practitioners and taxpayers have been calling for since the Bush tax cuts took effect. Never in our history has an exemption increased over 500% in less than a decade and known loopholes been left open for abuse. The estate tax is broken, and it’s time we fix it.”

In honor of Veteran's Day I wanted to thank all of our Veterans. I especially wanted to thank my father, Nick, who is my true hero in life and my brother-in-law Kyle. These are great men who truly know the meaning of the word sacrifice.

While none of the other discussions surrounding this story should ever minimize what happened to the victims and their families, I have wondered, in addition to the obvious lessons, what else can you, as a business owner, learn from this story?

While no asset protection strategy is foolproof, proper use of DAPTs in conjunction with other legitimate asset protection strategies increases your chance of protecting your hard earned assets in our increasingly litigious society.

Hallock & Hallock joins WealthCounsel colleagues in promoting National Estate Planning Awareness Week, October 17-23, 2011.

The IRS has finally released Form 8939 "Allocation of Increase in Basis for Property Acquired From a Decedent".

A recent Consumer Reports article looking at three of the more recognized brands in this area stated: “All three are better than nothing if you have no will. But unless your needs are very simple—say, you want to leave everything to your spouse with no other provisions—none of them is likely to meet your needs. And we found problems with all three . . . .”

While it is true that there are tax benefits to charitable giving, the true benefit is the difference it can make in our lives and the lives of others.

One of the most common questions I am asked is - Do I Need a Trust? A common misconception is that Trusts are only for rich people with potential tax problems. Nothing could be further from the Truth.