Estate planning

For wealthy and high-profile clients, privacy can be hard to attain. But most people don't want their personal lives made public, especially when they are going through a divorce. Here's how planners can help.

HNW clients face steep income and estate tax in some states, so a legal move to tax-friendlier territory can pay off.

Prenups can help HNW clients and heirs in case of divorce or death, but advisors must avoid offending these spouses-to-be.

A smoother prenup process can ease clients' embarrassment and protect their financial well-being.

Advisors need to spend more time helping clients plan for long-term care and inheritance allocations before problems arise, says one advisor and author.

Tax law changes may make it harder for advisors to show how specialized services are vital. Here's how to adapt.

An estate plan reflects the present state of clients' lives, with an overlay of applicable laws. Here's how to tell when a plan needs an update.

While spending years in litigation over a single piece of art is unusual, family fights over valuable or sentimental personal property left by a deceased loved one are far from uncommon. The mess involving a Warhol portrait of Farrah Fawcett offers an important estate planning lesson for advisors.

Many considered Dec. 31, 2013, the final date for year-end tax planning, but there are numerous planning actions that you can take in 2014 retroactive to 2013. Here's a quick and easy guide to help with planning.

Rather than leaving an account to heirs, it may be smarter to designate a charitable remainder trust as the beneficiary.

The IRS has released the final regulations for the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax that was imposed as part of the Affordable Care Act.

November's hot stories were a wide ranging lot. Check out this month’s big winners.

Recent studies have found that as people age, many lose their ability to make sound financial decisions. So what can be done to safeguard elderly clients’ hard earned assets?

Increased taxes on long-term capital gains has renewed interest in trusts that can sell donated assets, avoid tax, and pay a stream of income to the donors.

In the wake of this summer's Supreme Court ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act and Prop 8 -- as well as ensuing federal clarifications related to tax rules, employee spousal benefits and more -- same-sex couples now say they need help with financial planning.

The toughest conversations that advisors need to have with their clients have nothing to do with investment strategies.

Wealthy families' tangled needs can create a mess of inconsistencies and other problems.

Planners need to help clients express their wishes about end-of-life decisions before it's too late.

The changes to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program introduce credit underwriting criteria to the product for the first time, which until now only had been using actuarial standards in the decision making process, a reverse mortgage specialist said.

Clients often walk in the door with an idea about how they’d like to leave their assets. It’s an advisor’s job to help them understand issues they may not have considered.