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Within the past year, a combination of new legislation and the recent change of leadership in the White House and Congress stands to dramatically increase the income taxes your loved ones will have to pay on inherited retirement accounts as well as increasing the income taxes you owe on your taxable investments. However, purchasing life insurance may offer you the opportunity to minimize the effect of these developments.

To this end, if you hold assets in a retirement account, you need to review your financial plan and estate plan as soon as possible to determine if investing in life insurance or some other strategy may offer tax-saving benefits for you and your family. To help you with this process, here we’ll discuss how these new developments might affect the taxes owed by you and your heirs, and how investing in life insurance may help offset the tax impact of these new changes.

The SECURE Act

At the start of 2020, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) went into effect, and the new law effectively put an end to the so-called “stretch IRA.” Under prior law, beneficiaries of your retirement account could choose to stretch out distributions of an inherited retirement account over their own life expectancy to minimize the income taxes owed on those distributions.

For example, an 18-year-old beneficiary expected to live an additional 65 years could inherit an IRA and stretch out the distributions for 65 years, paying income tax on just the portion withdrawn each year. In that case, the income tax law would encourage the child not to withdraw and spend the inherited assets all at once.

Under the new law, however, most designated beneficiaries of inherited IRAs and similar tax-deferred qualified retirement accounts are now required to withdraw all of the assets from the inherited account—and pay income taxes on those withdrawals—within 10 years of the account owner’s death. Those who fail to withdraw funds within the 10-year window face a 50% tax penalty on the assets remaining in the account.

But this is just the first development that stands to affect the amount of taxes your heirs might face in the near future on inherited investments.

Democrats Take Control

As we highlighted in a previous article the recent election of Joe Biden as President and subsequent Democratic takeover of the Senate will likely result in the passage of new tax legislation that could have a significant impact on your family’s financial and estate planning considerations.

Specifically, it’s likely that within the next two years Democrats will pass legislation aimed at eliminating many of the tax cuts enacted through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. As part of this legislation, we’re expected to see significantly lower federal estate tax exemptions, the elimination of the step-up in cost basis on inherited assets, as well as an increase in the top personal income and capital-gains tax rates.

One way you may be able to minimize the new taxes on both your tax-deferred retirement accounts and taxable investments is by investing in cash-value life insurance. Let’s break down exactly what this strategy might look like.

The New Role of Life Insurance In Your Estate and Financial Planning

Given the new distribution requirements for inherited IRAs, you should consider whether it makes sense to withdraw funds from your retirement account now, pay the tax, and invest the remainder in cash-value life insurance. From there, you can access the accumulated cash-surrender value of the life insurance policy income-tax free during your lifetime via tax-free withdrawals and/or loans. And upon your death, the death benefit of your life insurance policy would be income-tax free for your heirs.

By annually investing what you would otherwise put into tax-deferred retirement accounts into a cash-value life insurance contract, or by taking taxable withdrawals from your tax-deferred retirement accounts over time and reinvesting them in cash-value life insurance, you can effectively move these funds into a tax-free, rather than tax-deferred, investment vehicle.

This strategy could not only minimize the income taxes you pay over your lifetime, but it could also significantly reduce the tax bill imposed on your designated beneficiaries after your death, since life insurance proceeds are income-tax free.

Additionally, by investing a portion of your investable assets in cash-value life insurance, you can offset the effects of the proposed loss of income tax basis step-up upon your death, which we’re likely to see enacted through Democrat-backed legislation. What’s more, this strategy would also minimize your current income taxes on what otherwise would have been taxable income from your investments, as growth on investments inside a life insurance policy are not subject to income tax, including any capital gains.

Finally, if you stand to be affected by the proposed decrease of the federal estate-tax exemption, which is currently set at $11.7 million, by placing the life insurance policy inside an irrevocable life insurance trust, you can remove the death benefit paid out to your beneficiaries from your taxable estate. In doing so, you would still be able to access the cash value of the insurance policy during your lifetime, either via a so-called “spousal access trust,” if you are married, or via a traditional irrevocable life insurance trust, if you are not married.

Rethink Your Planning

Although the SECURE Act and the proposed new legislation stands to have an adverse effect on the tax consequences for your retirement and estate planning, investing in life insurance may offer you a valuable tax-saving opportunity. That said, you can only take advantage of this opportunity if you plan for it.

If you fail to revise your plan to address the SECURE Act’s new requirements and/or the proposed legislation that’s likely to be passed by the Democratic administration, you and your family could face a significantly higher tax bill. To prevent this from happening, schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session™ or an existing estate-plan review today.

With us as your Personal Family Lawyer®, we’ll work with you and your financial advisor to analyze all of the ways your retirement accounts might be impacted by the SECURE Act and the new proposed legislation and come up with the most effective planning strategies for passing your assets to your loved ones in the most tax-advantaged manner possible, while ensuring your current tax liabilities are similarly minimized. To learn more, contact us right away.

Proper estate planning can keep your family out of conflict, out of court, and out of the public eye. If you’re ready to create a comprehensive estate plan, contact us to schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session. Even if you already have a plan in place, we will review it and help you bring it up to date to avoid heartache for your family. Schedule online today.

Selecting a beneficiary for your life insurance policy sounds pretty straightforward. But given all of the options available and the potential for unforeseen problems, it can be a more complicated decision than you might imagine.

For instance, when purchasing a life insurance policy, your primary goal is most likely to make the named beneficiary’s life better or easier in some way in the aftermath of your death. However, unless you consider all of the unique circumstances involved with your choice, you might actually end up creating additional problems for your loved ones.

Last week, we discussed the first three of six questions you should ask yourself when choosing a life insurance beneficiary. Here we cover the remaining three:

While you’re technically allowed to name a minor as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy, it’s a bad idea to do so. Insurance carriers will not allow a minor child to receive the insurance benefits directly until they reach the age of majority—which can be as old as 21 depending on the state.

If you have a minor named as your beneficiary when you die, then the proceeds would be distributed to a court-appointed custodian tasked with managing the funds, often at a financial cost to your beneficiary. And this is true even if the minor has a living parent. This means that even the child’s other living birth parent would have to go to court to be appointed as custodian if he or she wanted to manage the funds. And, in some cases, that parent would not be able to be appointed (for example, if they have poor credit), and the court would appoint a paid fiduciary to hold the funds.

Rather than naming a minor child as beneficiary, it’s better to set up a trust for your child to receive the insurance proceeds. That way, you get to choose who would manage your child’s inheritance, and how and when the insurance proceeds would be used and distributed.

When considering how your insurance funds might help a beneficiary in your absence, you also need to consider how it might potentially cause harm. This is particularly true in the case of young adults.

For example, think about what could go wrong if an 18 year old suddenly receives a huge windfall of cash. At best, the 18 year old might blow through the money in a short period of time. At worst, getting all that money at once could lead to actual physical harm (even death), as could be the case for someone with substance-abuse issues.

To help mitigate these potential complications, some life insurance companies allow your death benefit to be paid out in installments over a period of time, giving you some control over when your beneficiary receives the money. However, as discussed earlier, if you set up a trust to receive the insurance payment, you would have total control over the conditions that must be met for proceeds to be used or distributed. For example, you could build the trust so that the insurance proceeds would be kept in trust for beneficiary’s use inside the trust, yet still keep the funds totally protected from future creditors, lawsuits, and/or divorce.

Considering how your life insurance money might negatively affect a beneficiary is absolutely critical when it comes to those with special needs. If you leave the money directly to someone with special needs, an insurance payout could disqualify your beneficiary from receiving government benefits.

Under federal law, if someone with special needs receives a gift or inheritance of more than $2,000, they can be disqualified for Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. Since life insurance proceeds are considered inheritance under the law, an individual with special needs SHOULD NEVER be named as beneficiary.

To avoid disqualifying an individual with special needs from receiving government benefits, you would create a “special needs” trust to receive the proceeds. In this way, the money will not go directly to the beneficiary upon your death, but be managed by the trustee you name and dispersed per the trust’s terms without affecting benefit eligibility.

The rules governing special needs trusts are quite complicated and can vary greatly from state to state, so if you have a child who has special needs, meet with us to ensure you have the proper planning in place, not just for your insurance proceeds, but for the lifetime of care your child may need.

These are just a few of the questions you should consider when choosing a life insurance beneficiary. Consult with us to be certain you’ve thought through all possible circumstances.

And if you think you may need to create a trust—special needs or otherwise—to receive the proceeds of your life insurance, meet with us, so we can properly review all of your assets and consider how to best leave behind what you have in a way that will create the most benefit—and the least challenges—for the people you love. Schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session today.

Proper estate planning can keep your family out of conflict, out of court, and out of the public eye. If you’re ready to create a comprehensive estate plan, contact us to schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session. Even if you already have a plan in place, we will review it and help you bring it up to date to avoid heartache for your family. Schedule online today.

Over just the last two years, we’ve seen historic levels of damage caused by natural disasters in the U.S. From blizzards in Texas and wildfires in California to hurricanes in Louisiana and tornados in the Midwest, few regions of the country are immune to such catastrophes. And based on the latest data from the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO), things are only going to get worse.

The WMO found that climate change has helped drive a five-fold increase in the number of weather-related disasters in the last 50 years, and these calamities are getting more severe each year. As a result of climate change, weather records are being broken all the time, turning previously impossible events into deadly realities.

Despite this threat, a majority of homeowners lack the insurance coverage needed to protect their property and possessions from such calamities. Roughly 64% of homeowners don’t have enough insurance, according to a 2020 report from CoreLogic, the nation’s largest source of property and housing data. One major factor contributing to this lack of coverage is the mistaken belief that homeowners insurance offers adequate protection from natural disasters.

In truth, however, much of the damage caused by natural disasters is not covered by a standard homeowners policy. To fully protect your home and other property, you often need to purchase a separate policy or endorsement that covers specific types of natural disasters. To help you get the proper coverage, here we’ve highlighted the various types of insurance available and explained what these policies typically will—and won’t—cover.

Although homeowners insurance typically doesn’t pay for damage caused by natural disasters, most policies do cover fire damage, including wildfires like the recent ones that have devastated the West. Generally, the only instances of fire damage a homeowners policy won’t cover are fires caused by arson or when fire destroys a home that’s been vacant for at least 30 days when the fire occurred.

That said, not all homeowners policies are created equal, so you should review your policy to make certain that it includes enough coverage to do three things: replace your home’s structure, replace your belongings, and cover your living expenses while your home is being repaired, known as “loss-of-use” coverage.

What’s more, in certain areas that are extremely high-risk for wildfires, it can be quite difficult to find a private company to insure your home. In such cases, you should look into state-sponsored fire insurance, such as California’s FAIR Plan.

Unlike fires, earthquakes are typically not covered by homeowners policies. To protect your home against earthquakes, you will need a freestanding earthquake insurance policy. And contrary to popular belief, Californians aren’t the only ones who should have such coverage.

Most parts of the U.S. are at some risk for earthquakes. In fact, the U.S. Geological Survey found that between 1975 to 1995, earthquakes occured in every state except Florida, Iowa, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. To gauge the risk in your region, consult with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) earthquake hazard maps.

While earthquake insurance is available just about everywhere, policies in high-risk areas typically come with high deductibles, ranging from 10% to 15% of a home’s total value. Additionally, though earthquake insurance covers damage directly caused by the quake, some related damage, such as that caused by flooding, will likely not be covered. Carefully review your policy to see what’s included—and what’s not.

Though homeowners insurance generally covers flood damage caused by faulty infrastructure like leaky or broken pipes, nearly all policies exclude flood damage caused by natural events like heavy rain, overflowing rivers, and hurricanes. To protect your property and possessions from these events, you’ll need stand-alone flood insurance.

The threat from flooding is so widespread, Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in 1968, which allows homeowners in flood-prone areas to purchase flood insurance backed by the federal government. In some coastal regions, especially where hurricanes are prevalent, you might even be required by law to have flood insurance for your home. To determine the risk for your property, consult FEMA’s Flood Maps.

Even if you live in a location where flood insurance isn’t required, you may want to consider buying it anyway. That’s because 90% of all natural disasters include some form of flooding, and more than 20% of flood-damage claims come from properties outside high-risk flood zones. Given how commonplace flood damage can be, you should carefully consider whether or not such coverage is warranted in your area.

Most homeowners policies do provide coverage for wind-related damage. However, whether or not a policy covers such claims often depends on the type of storm that caused the damage. For example, wind damage from tornadoes and even some tropical storms is typically covered, while wind damage from hurricanes generally requires a separate windstorm policy, or in some cases, a hurricane rider.

Because damage from hurricanes is often measured in the billions, windstorm policies usually have high deductibles, and they are frequently based on a percentage of your home’s value, instead of a fixed dollar amount. Some policies also come with a cap on coverage, so be sure to review exactly what type and amount of coverage your policy offers.

Of course, high winds aren’t the only threat posed by hurricanes. These tropical systems often cause severe flooding, which is typically the storm’s most damaging element. But as mentioned earlier, whether it’s caused by a hurricane or a tornado, flooding is generally not covered by homeowners insurance. For flood protection, you’ll need to purchase a separate flood insurance policy through the NFIP.

Beyond having the right insurance, if your family is forced to evacuate your home in the event of a natural disaster, you’ll need important documents and supplies on-hand to recover in the wake of the catastrophe. We recommend you take a cue from the U.S. military, which requires its members to always have a “go-bag” ready and packed with the essential items needed to survive for at least three days following a disaster or other emergency.

In addition to clothes, toiletries, medications, and food, your go-bag should include copies of your passport, birth certificate, driver’s license, state ID card, and/or other essential identification. Other documents to pack include the deed to your home if you have one on-hand, copies of your insurance policies, the original copy of your will (if your lawyer isn’t already storing it for you in a fireproof safe), vehicle titles/registration, and a recent family photo with faces clearly visible for easy identification.

While all of your estate planning documents should be included in your go-bag, having your medical power of attorney and living will readily accessible is especially critical for medical emergencies. Without these documents, doctors and other medical professionals won’t know your wishes for treatment or which of your loved ones should help them make decisions in the event of your incapacity from illness or injury, which is all the more likely during a disaster scenario.

To make everything as portable as possible, download your estate plan and other important documents to a flash drive you can carry in your go-bag, and upload additional copies to the cloud.

Finally, make sure your family knows about your go-bag and estate planning documents—as well as how to find them. Even if you have all of the necessary legal documents in place, they won’t do you any good if your loved ones don’t know about them or can’t quickly locate them during an emergency. You might even want to keep your go-bag near your home’s primary exit, so you or someone else can grab it on the way out the door.

Obviously, not all of your family’s belongings can be replaced, so you should take additional precautions to safeguard your most precious sentimental items: photo albums, home videos, old letters, family histories, and treasured cards from the past. Since you won’t have the time or space to pack these items in your go-bag, we recommend you make digital copies of these keepsakes and store them in the cloud.

As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we are keenly aware of the priceless value these items represent, and we believe safely storing your sentimentals online is so important we offer this as a service to all of our clients. Be sure to ask us how we can help you preserve your family’s most precious mementos.

To make certain that you have the proper insurance and other estate planning documents in place to protect your home, family, and belongings from the ever-increasing threat posed by natural disasters, consult with us, your Personal Family Lawyer®. We’ll help you evaluate the specific risks for your area, assess the value of your home and other assets, and support you to obtain the proper insurance and estate planning vehicles to fully safeguard you and your loved ones from every possible emergency. Call us today to get started.

This article is a service of a Personal Family Lawyer®. We do not just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

Proper estate planning can keep your family out of conflict, out of court, and out of the public eye. If you’re ready to create a comprehensive estate plan, contact us to schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session. Even if you already have a plan in place, we will review it and help you bring it up to date to avoid heartache for your family. Schedule online today.

If your company has (or plans to have) employees, you should definitely create an employee handbook. Handbooks ensure that employees are not only aware of your rules, but also the federal and state laws governing their employment.

You can use the handbook to introduce your employees to your company and its culture, explaining what’s expected of them—and what they can expect from you. Though they should never take the place of employment contracts, handbooks can provide you with another layer of legal protection if an employee ever decides to take you to court.

The handbook should reflect the way you do business, and whatever policies you include in it should be consistently enforced. Depending on the size and scope of your operation, the handbook’s content can vary widely. However, the US Small Business Administration suggests including the following eight topics as a start.  

Provide a general overview of your business, its philosophy, history, and culture. In addition to this introduction, point out that the handbook is not a contract—merely a general overview of your basic policies—and as such, it offers no promise of continued employment and is subject to change with time.

Lay out your company’s policies regarding work hours, schedules, attendance, and telecommuting. Here, you may want to discuss sick leave, PTO, family and medical leave, bereavement, jury duty, and military leave. Also, list holidays your company observes, along with your vacation policy, spelling out how vacation time is earned and how to schedule time off.

Include a section covering the state and federal laws related to non-discrimination, equal employment opportunity, and harassment, such as Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act. You should let employees know how they’re expected to comply and describe the procedures you have in place for reporting violations and/or complaints.

Having a procedure in place for documenting complaints can help protect your business from legal liability for things like sexual harassment and discrimination. Just be sure you’re aware of the specific laws in your state, as they can vary greatly depending on where your offices—and employees—are located.

Discuss the methods of payment you offer like check, direct deposit, and online pay applications, along with listing pay periods and pay dates. If applicable, lay out your overtime policies as well as any additional compensation options, such as bonuses and stock options.

Discuss your expectations and rules for employee behavior. Depending on your company, this can include a wide variety of issues, such as dress code, smoking policy, sexual harassment, personal cell-phone use, alcohol/substance use, and inter-office dating.

Pay special attention to policies regarding web technology like email, social media, and texting. Inform your employees that such office communications are not private and may be monitored.

Also discuss any conflict-resolution procedures and/or employee discipline processes you have in place related to managing employee behavior.

Include a brief summary of the benefits you offer, such as healthcare, life insurance, dental, vision, and retirement plans. Don’t go into specific details here; refer them to the official plan documents for a full explanation. That said, you should discuss who’s eligible for benefits, when and how to enroll, as well as how benefits can be changed after certain events, like marriage, divorce, and/or birth of child.

Lay out your policies for creating a safe and secure workplace. This might include your compliance with any applicable Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) laws requiring employees to report accidents, injuries, potential safety hazards, safety suggestions, and health issues to management.

If applicable, include your safety policies regarding driving company vehicles, as well as any procedures for dealing with natural disasters and/or severe weather conditions. Don’t forget that by law many states require companies to inform employees of their states workers compensation policies in writing, so it may be a good idea to include those here too.

To verify that your employees have read and agree to abide by these rules, you should include an acknowledgement page at the end, which employees are required to sign. The acknowledgement should state that the employee has read, understands, and agrees to follow the handbook’s policies. It’s a good idea to make this page detachable, and once signed, place it in their personnel file.

From its initial creation and editing to the final approval before printing, we can help you with every step of developing your employee handbook. And given the handbook covers sensitive legal issues, it’s actually crucial that you allow us to review your handbook before it’s printed.

Keep in mind, an employee handbook is no substitute for comprehensive employment contracts. We can help you draft these legal agreements as well and then coordinate their content with your handbook, so you have every possible document in place to protect your business from liability.

We offer a complete spectrum of legal services for business owners and can help you make the wisest choices on how to deal with your business throughout life and in the event of your death. We also offer you a LIFT Your Life And Business Planning Session, which includes a review of all the legal, insurance, financial, and tax systems you need for your business. Schedule online today.