Preservation | Family Wealth Protection & Planning

On June 21, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided in favor of a taxpayer trust, finding that the state of North Carolina could not tax the trust merely because a trust beneficiary, who received no trust income or right to demand income, resided in North Carolina.

Have you considered who will have control of your body after death? In some instances, the disposition of remains may work out as planned even if the default rules set by state statute apply. In other instances, while you may hope to be dust in the wind, you may instead be pushing up daisies.

An Alabama probate judge entered an order recently sealing the probate court file, including the will, of Harper Lee, the famed author of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Attorneys for the estate successfully argued public access should be restricted, in part, because the author would not have wanted her private financial information to be a matter of public discussion. Interestingly, despite being a notoriously private person, Lee chose to direct the disposition of her estate through a last will and testament, a historically public process.