| Death tax back in 2011 | Hot Conversation |
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/wm2790.cfm#_ftn6
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i use a combo of shea butter and aloe vera moisturizer. Works great. I use shea butter on my lips, around my eyes and nose (dry areas), My father swears by vasoline.
p.s. I dropped your name on Gina's post, Barb. ;)
Hi again. I have to laugh. My friend Gina Mcnew just wrote a blog post about the myriad of skincare and beauty products women use compared to men. And how it gets crazy as we get older. I laughed my butt off! I thought you ladies would enjothank you so much Lisa, that helps a lot. I know he tried to blame me for so much stuff, but like I told all of his family and mine none of that added up to a divorce. I do realize it's his needs, it just hurts so bad to think how many years he'sI used Noxzema from the time I was old enough to wash my own face, all through school and into adulthood. Then I decided it wasn't 'sophisticated' enough and went with higher priced, higher end products. About 5 years ago, I went back to 
Just gives me one more reason to avoid death…
I’m with you Tamara, Good one!
So to avoid these taxes, we must die poor and destitute?
Actually if you died in 2009 you wouldn’t have to pay inheritance tax unless the value your estate exceeded $3.5 million.
If you die this year your heirs pay no tax. So Bill Gates could die and pay nothing.
Doesn’t sound like destitution to me.
But it can be VERY complicated. I was executor for my parents estate, they had a will and a trust, but the trust was not fully funded-the real estate was never put in the trust. It took me three years to settle the necessary probate!!!
To all VN women: Please be sure that your parents have a will and trust and that it is fully funded.
What does a fully funded trust mean?
I live in California and it’s a very litigious state so it could be that our laws are more complicated than other states. In my family’s situation a will was not enough to avoid probate. We needed a trust also. My brother was named as the executor of the estate and made sure that my parents had a trust-before they died. He wasn’t aware that the title on their homes had to be changed to “The Jones Family Trust” instead of their names. He did have the bank accounts, IRA etc. changed. After our Mom died, my Dad was already gone, we found out that we still had to go through probate to sell the homes and distribute those proceeds. My brother passed away unexpectedly soon after my Mom and this, of course, slowed everything down. I took over and my sister and i went through this together-probate can be expensive and time consuming. Ours was more complicated because the first executor died during probate.
I’m not an expert at any of this and am sure that it’s different in other states. We have several lawyers in our family, but none of them practice in CA, but I did get advice from them along the way. I’m a Realtor so that helped with selling the properties.
It just makes sense to try to find out about your parents situation and help get things in order, especially if they are very ill. My Mom had Alzheimer and couldn’t make any decisions herself. I think you can get free info online about your particular state. We have a company in northern CA called “We The People”, and they can help instead of having to hire an attorney. I’ve also seen ads for Legal Zoom-i think that’s the name, and it’s nationwide. I think if you called a firm like this they may be able to tell you what you need to do to minimize the stress and expense after you lose a relative.
I hope this helps a bit.
Okay, I understand. I’m in California too. I just wanted to make sure we hadn’t overlooked something. Thank you.
Thank you jeanniep, You are right, we need to take care of things, before that happens. You can’t go back.
Disclaimer on my last sentence above: Some states may not require a trust. I live in California and in my situation we needed one to avoid probate.
Actually I call this the “Estate Lawyers Full Employment Act”.
I did a complete estate plan in 2006 when I married Mr. Dallas Lady. Paid out the wazoo for all the trusts, documents, etc. Discovered in 2009 when the tax expired that a funding mechansim for trusts had been tired to it; so I had to redo the documents to reflect the expired tax law. Now in 2010 I’ll have to do it all AGAIN for when the tax comes back in 2011.
Only now I’ve spent it all on the estate lawyer and there is NO estate left to tax! haha
Actually I plan for my Last Will and Testament to read as follows: “Being of sound mind and body…I spent it.”
That is so funny. I like the that says , “We’re spending our kids inheritance”
Maybe Mr. Dallas Lady needs to be a lawyer.
Financial matters always puzzle me.
If you died in 2009 you could exclude 3.5 million from the value of your estate. If you die in 2010, you can exclude 100% of the value of your estate-pay no tax at all. Who knows what will happen in 2011??
Guess your best bet is to die this year!
Moongoddess please let me know if my figures are incorrect-this is what my trust attorney told me.
And we all know you can trust an attorney! Just kidding 
I have many lawyers in my family!
I don’t have money to really worry about. You know much more about this than I do so thanks for explaining it.
Think I’ll try to avoid death this year. Maybe get my portfolio together, make more so I can contribute my portion for redistribution.
Yes, PLEASE stay healthy this year! :)