Wealth Strategies Journal:  “But the estate tax repeal did take effect in 2010, and an enormous  rift in the transfer tax system opened just long enough for the estates  of several billionaires to pass through.  Let's take a look back at 2010.”

Forbes:  “The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, P.L. 111-312 (2010 Tax Relief Act), which President Obama signed into law on December 17, 2010, makes significant changes to the gift tax.”

Arizona Republic:  “If you become ill from old age and can no longer take care of yourself, the people you and your family turn to for help can hand over control of your life to an expensive for-profit business. . . . Fiduciaries charge fees that in months or years can wipe out your assets. The organizations and firms that refer clients to fiduciaries often do not advise clients of the potential costs.” See “Hospitals can call fiduciaries for their patients” and “Close lawyer-fiduciary ties raise questions of cronyism.”

Wealth Strategies Journal:  “The headline of the November 10, 2010 posting on Forbes' “Estate of Confusion” blog by Hani Sarji sums it up, “Results of Midterm Elections Do Not Bring Certainty to the Federal Estate Tax.”  While uncertainty about the long-term status of the estate tax is nothing new, it appears that the uncertainty will continue as we begin the New Year. . . . All of this means that the uncertainty that has clouded the estate planning playing field for the past eight years is likely to continue through the current Congress until we see the make-up of the 2013 Congress and administration.  While there are flexible tax planning strategies that can help deal with this uncertainty from a planning perspective, uncertainty frequently leads

Wall St. Journal:  “An elderly client recently asked . . . an attorney . . . whether her children would inherit her considerable estate if she committed suicide this year.  His response: ‘I took a long, hard look at her, and said, ‘I'm going to make believe I didn't hear that question.”  Welcome to the macabre world of estate planning 2010, where such questions are relevant.”

Wall St. Journal:  “Without Congressional action, [the death tax] returns with a 55% rate vengeance in 26 days.  Without action in the lame duck Congress, the estate tax will rise from the dead on January 1 with a vengeance, the rate climbing back to 55% from zero this year. The exemption amount will revert to a miserly $1 million, unindexed for inflation, so more middle class taxpayers will get hit year after year.”

Arizona Republic:  “When people incapable of caring for themselves or their money end up in Maricopa County Probate Court, judges turn to a list of contract lawyers who have been pre-screened to represent those clients.  A Phoenix firm has handled hundreds of the cases, and some of its attorneys have raised their hourly rates on clients without notifying them in writing, court records show, an apparent violation of ethics rules that require such disclosure.”

Houston Chronicle: “The heir to an oil fortune is powerless as lawyers, trustees, judges and guardians determine his fate.  For more than four decades, multimillionaire oil heir Ugo di Portanova has been all but powerless over his vast fortune.   His three Mercedes-Benzes, his chartered plane trips, his yacht excursions and the rest of his spending are all controlled by a small militia of Harris County probate court guardians, financial trustees, lawyers and judges.  Despite $65 million-plus in assets, di Portanova — described as one of the world's wealthiest ‘partially incapacitated' men — controls a single credit card that maxes out at $1,000 a month.”

Arizona Republic:  “When Monsignor Edward Ryle died in December 2005, he left behind a reputation as “God's lobbyist” at the state Capitol, a modest estate and no will. . . . Ryle's case is an example of how probate cases can sometimes become far more expensive than families expect when they turn to attorneys and for-profit fiduciaries for help when a relative dies without leaving instructions about their assets.”

The Trust Advisor:  “Dennis Hopper’s death left divorced wife Victoria Duffy in legal limbo and created big headaches for trustees. Trying to resolve the ambiguities is only making things worse. . . .  this very improvisational approach to trust administration has exposed the $25 million the man left behind to a high-profile $45 million lawsuit and the threat of endless legal fees. . . . And that’s where the fight really got ugly.”

Arizona Republic:  “You could use software to write your own will, but here's a safer alternative.  Yes, it can be painful to pay for estate planning. Lawyers charge a lot. The benefits of a plan are delayed, and you don't live to see them anyway. . . . The trouble with do-it-yourself planning, however, is that even if your situation seems simple, there are many oddball things a layman wouldn't think of that can go wrong, especially with a will. These mistakes can end up costing your heirs a lot more than you saved in legal fees.”

Bankrate.com:  “You're ready to tackle estate planning, but you're not sure what ‘equipment' you need.  Flounder no more.  Here are nine essential estate-planning tools, along with details about what they do and why you need them.”

Wall St. Journal:  “The return of the estate tax in 2011 presents dilemmas even more gruesome than those of a year ago, when taxpayers clung to life past Jan. 1, 2010, to escape death duties their estates would have owed in 2009. This year, by contrast, the tax code is giving taxpayers an incentive not to live but to die—saving heirs as much as 55 cents of tax on a dollar of assets.”

New York Times:  “The Obama administration’s proposal for the estate tax has all of the ingredients of a damaging tax – large exemptions and loopholes, confiscatory marginal tax rates and little revenue potential. The best reason for having such a tax, if there is one, is to tap into any punish-the-rich sentiment that may be in the electorate. . . . But the huge potential for avoidance behavior is exactly why the proposal is so damaging from an economic point of view.”

Financial Advisor:  “As trusts grow more popular, the need to appoint the right trustees becomes crucial. . . . Yet trusts can only be as successful as the trustees who manage them. So picking the right trustees is crucial.”

The Trust Advisor Blog:  “Our new trust industry survey for the third quarter of 2010 reveals who’s charging what for directed trusts and for investment management. We found providers charge about the same price for similar services. Our report offers guidance on what to look for to gain the best value for your client.”

Wall St. Journal:  “It isn't just the estate tax that's scheduled to return on Jan. 1 after a one-year absence. A lesser-known companion levy will return as well: the generation-skipping transfer tax. Not surprisingly, affluent families are rushing to transfer wealth to their progeny before the year-end deadline.”

Investopedia:  “Not only is it important that you have a plan in place in the unlikely event of your death, but you must also implement your plan and make sure others know about it and understand your wishes – as Benjamin Franklin's famous quote goes, ‘by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.'  If you've procrastinated on your estate planning, this article will help you get going in the right direction.”

Wall St. Journal:  “Congress is trying to put limits on a popular trust families use to avoid the tax.  Because this type of trust works best at times when interest rates are low and asset values are depressed—times like these, in other words—estate planners are urging clients to set one up before Congress makes them far less attractive.  Called a grantor-retained annuity trust, or GRAT, it allows people to give a portion of an asset's future profits to heirs tax-free.”