JAKARTA — Abdul Rahman Saleh, the attorney general affirmed that there is no prohibition of Ahmadiyya nationally. “Before court order, there is no prohibition” he said in Jakarta yesterday.

The statement based on a meeting among the ... (Continue)

A question I am frequently asked in e-mail responses to this column is, "how do I know if the attorney I select to draft my will or trust is sufficiently knowledgeable? I hope it is acknowledged by most attorneys that every attorney is not competent to practice in every area of the law. Although I did file a client's bankruptcy application 25 years ago, I would not do so now because that area of the law has become so complex and because there are many competent attorneys who concentrate in that field. Nor would I, nor would most estate planning attorneys, practice in aviation law, securities law, maritime law, or in many other unrelated fields.

The attorney you select should have a resume he or she can mail to you prior to scheduling your first meeting. Your first meeting should be a free consultation, although some attorneys do charge. You should have the opportunity to interview your attorney, just as they will want to interview you. You do not need to hire them as your attorney, just as they do not need to accept you as their client. You would not hire anyone without being able to make your own assessment of their qualifications.

You may want to see the quality of their college and their law school. Many attorneys practicing in estate planning or elder law have also completed graduate education beyond the required J.D. degree, which stands for Juris Doctor. Many law schools offer a Masters of Law degree, or LLM, in estate planning or in taxation. Some non-law schools offer advanced degrees in taxation. You will also want to learn if the attorney you select has any other qualifications, such as a Certified Financial Planner designation, or a Certified Public Accountant designation. Some designations, such as Senior Advisor, are not as well respected in the profession, because they only require a one-day seminar and a short easy test to obtain. Ask the attorney you are interviewing about the qualifications of any designation they list in their resume.

You will want to select an attorney who is compatible with your personality and who has staff who are also knowledgeable, courteous, and helpful. You will also want to ask what professional organizations they belong to and what training programs, or professional education programs, they offer. The Florida Bar requires all attorneys to take continuing legal education courses either offered by the Florida Bar or offered by other organizations and approved by the Florida Bar. Some are very basic and others are advanced for a particular area of the law. Ask which ones they have attended in the past two years.

A recent seminar on dirty litigation tactics held in Tampa last week recommended that whenever an attorney becomes involved in litigation, he or she check out the disciplinary record of the opposing attorney. Non-attorneys also have access to that information through the Web site FloridaBar.org. When you find that site, click on "find a lawyer," then when the name screen appears, type in the last and first name or, if you know it, the bar number. The next screen will state their full name and whether they are eligible to practice, not eligible to practice, or a member of the judiciary. Then click on the name in blue and the next screen will contain a brief resume, including what sections they are members of, the year they were admitted, and their 10-year disciplinary history.

Carefully read the resume they send, as well as any literature they have written on estate planning, prior to your first interview. From your reading of their resume and estate planning literature, write out some questions both to assess their competency concerning your needs and their competency in estate planning in general. I would suggest you ask questions such as the following, which you have read about in order to give you a basic understanding of the type of discussion which should follow from your question. Write out the question and the discussion you expect would follow. If they indicate they object to taking another oral bar exam, keep looking. Your legal matters should be important enough to them to take your concerns seriously.

First, ask if they do dynasty planning. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't need it. If you don't do it, your children will pay dearly for that mistake. Ask how they can protect your children's inheritance from creditors and from future successive estate taxes for the next 12 generations. Ask if they have the software to prepare it because if they do not, they will certainly not recommend it. That is when they will recommend the simple will that anyone can write.

Then ask about the three requirements of the marital deduction, such that if any one requirement is violated, the excess over the unified credit amount will be taxed at the first spouse's death. Ask if there can be a re-marriage restriction in the marital trust or if the lineal descendants can have access to the income if the spouse is not in need. Both are a no-no and will disqualify the marital deduction.

Next, ask how the "Family Trust" or family share, or unified credit shelter amount for the by-pass Trust, can be lost so that the $2,000,000 will be taxed again at the second spouse's death, which is not good. Ask if the spouse can be given a general power to appoint the principal in his or her Will or in the family share of the Trust, and if the surviving spouse can have an unlimited right to withdraw principal from the family share. If so, it will cost your heirs up to $900,000 in unnecessary estate tax

Ask the attorney if he or she will include a "5 and 5 power," even though the lapse thereof may increase estate tax on the second death.

Many attorneys now use the fractional share, instead of the easier and more frequently used pecuniary share division in establishing the "Family (unified credit shelter) Trust" and the "Marital Trust". Ask what the three advantages are of the fractional share. If the attorney does not talk about income in respect of a decedent, or (IRD), about installment sales, and about retirement planning, you should keep shopping around for an attorney.

Ask when the primary beneficiary designation of your IRA or retirement plan should be the then acting Trustee of your Trust, rather than your spouse. Ask what the IRS final regulations list as the four requirements of a Trust to be designated the beneficiary of the IRA or qualified retirement plan. If the spouse is the primary beneficiary, ask how you can be sure to fully fund the Family Share (unified credit share) of your Trust, and how you can maintain control of your IRA, so the unused principal goes to your children, rather than the children of the spouse of their second marriage.

Ask the attorney if they have the software to prepare an illustration for you of the economic effect of naming your spouse, or your children, or your grandchildren as beneficiaries of your IRA and why you might want a stand alone IRA trust for each beneficiary.

Ask how life insurance owned by an ILIT benefits a high net worth couple or individual. Ask specifically whether an ILIT can direct the trustee to use the proceeds of the life insurance policy to pay estate taxes. If the attorney says yes, keep looking for an attorney.

Ask about the current state of asset protection in Florida and the interplay of estate planning and Medicaid planning.

If they cannot provide adequate explanations, I guarantee you they tell you that your estate is not large enough for a trust and strongly recommend a simple will.

You must be able to converse with whoever you choose to prepare your Trust agreement so you are comfortable with their knowledge and background. Should you base your decision only on legal fees, you may not know you have chosen the wrong attorney until it is too late.

Written by U. S. Insurance News    Monday, 30 June 2008 Financial professionals want to make i... (Continue)

Written by U. S. Insurance News    Monday, 30 June 2008 Add award-winner to the list of adje... (Continue)

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 2008--As the secondary market for life insurance continues to grow, more financial professionals have shown their interest in life settlements by getting involved in Life Settlement Awareness Month™ events.

Thr... (Continue)