Latest Post: Maryland Guardianships

Appointing a guardian for a disable person requires a court proceeding. Often, when a guardian is needed for a family member, there is general agreement who should become the guardian. To have that person appointed guardian, however, a court proceeding is still required. Often if a family is acting in the best interest of the […]

This article is being written against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. As with society in general, the legal community has scrambled to keep firm clients, lawyers, paralegals, staff and their families safe while shifting to alternative work arrangements. Social distancing practices make things that were relatively easy to accomplish before the epidemic much more […]

Maryland Estate Planning During Coronavirus Epidemic: Emergency Order by Governor Hogan Permitting Remote Notarization Estate planning during the coronavirus epidemic is made a bit easier because of an emergency Order that permits remote notarization of documents in Maryland. Before this executive Order, documents could not be notarized without clients physically appearing before a notary with […]

E-Wills –Coming Anytime Soon in Maryland? By Fred Franke, Jr. Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC Maryland, like most states, does not permit remotely witnessed Wills. Instead, the witnesses must be in the physical presence of the testator. Nor does Maryland permit “E Wills” – Wills executed in electronic form. Operating in the environment of the […]

As of January 1, 2020, the latest federal income tax law change, the “SECURE Act,” changed how inherited IRAs are handled. Before the SECURE Act, a designated beneficiary of an IRA after the owner’s death generally could stretch the distributions out over that designated beneficiary’s life expectancy.  Now, an inherited IRA must be emptied 10 […]

The SECURE Act was signed into law on December 20, 2019. It significantly modified many requirements for employer-provided retirement plans, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and other tax favored savings accounts. Key Provisions Affecting Individuals Repeal of Maximum Age for Traditional IRA Contributions Before 2020, traditional IRA contributions were not permitted once an individual reached age […]

Elder financial abuse is rampant.  The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reports that $1.7 billion of suspicious financial activity involving seniors was flagged by U.S. financial institutions in 2017.  This, of course, is the tip of the iceberg and only reflects institutions that are required to report.  Much elder financial abuse goes unreported, especially abuse […]

The General Assembly has unanimously passed a Bill, signed by Governor Hogan, that makes sweeping changes to the elective share provisions of Maryland law.  The new law becomes effective October 1, 2020. The Current Statute Currently, the elective share statute, by its terms, applies only to probate estates.  It entitles a surviving spouse to elect […]

Two recent cases have examined how much “presence” in a state will permit that state to tax a trust’s undistributed income.  Generally, the trust’s principal place of administration is the place that subjects the trust to state income tax.  Delaware, for example, does not tax trust income or capital gains, so it is a popular […]

Maryland made the not-coveted Forbes list of places “where not to die in 2019.”  To compound the insult, Forbes singled out Maryland as the worst-of-the-worst:  “Of the 17 states and the District of Columbia that levy an estate tax or inheritance tax, Maryland is the sole jurisdiction with both levies.” However, each Maryland estate planning […]

The Court of Special Appeals determined that the State of Maryland cannot tax the value of a marital trust established under a will by a predeceased spouse, who was not a resident of Maryland and not, at the time of his death, subject to the Maryland estate tax. Comptroller v. Taylor, ___ Md.App. ____, 2018 […]

In mid-December of last year, the federal “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” passed by a simple majority vote.  In order to make the deficit numbers pass the “Byrd Rule” test, most of the individual and estate tax provisions “sunset” after 2025.  Generally, business tax changes are permanent (to the degree any policy is permanent). The […]