vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
If you're creating an S-Corp for consulting services that you personally are going to provide, what would it give her to have 50% of the corporation when you're dead? Not to mention that you can just add it to your will that the corporation stock will go to her, and it will be much better (IMHO, talk to a professional) since she'll be getting stepped-up basis. Why aren't you talking to a professional before making decisions? It doesn't sound like a good way to conduct business.
A public company should have a link for investor relations, which should help provide a trail of basis if this is a matter of company buyout, takeover, etc.  This gets you close, but if you don't have an exact date, it will just be close, not exact.  One clean way out of this, assuming the goal is to get rid of the stock and move on, is to donate the shares to charity. You will take the present value as a deduction, and be done. You can use a charitable gift fund such as those offered by Schwab or Fidelity, so if say, the shares are worth $20K, and you typically donate $5K per year, the fund lets you do this transaction at once, then send to the charities you wish over the next few years.
"You, yourself, cannot spend the money from life insurance because, well, you are dead.  So the question becomes ""what is best for those you leave behind?"".  Thus is a question that can only be answered by examining the individual(s) you would leave behind. Near as I can tell, you currently have no one else who may be significantly hurt by your passing. So you cannot answer this question until there is (are) that (those) other(s).  In the meantime, 'self-insure' by saving (true investing) up the money that you would otherwise be spending on premiums."
In particular, the children cannot roll the money over into another IRA so as to avoid immediate taxation; the spouse might be able to roll over the money into another IRA, but I am not sure about this; Publication 590b is very confusing on this point. All this is assuming that the deceased passed away before well before his 70.5th birthday so that there are no issues with RMDs (the interactions of all the rules in this case is an even bigger can of worms that I will leave to someone else to explicate). On the other hand, if the OP's mother does not disclaim the IRAs, then she, as the surviving spouse, has the option of treating the inherited IRAs as her own IRAs, and she could then name her two children as the beneficiaries of the inherited IRAs when she passes away. Of course, by the same token, she could opt to make someone else the beneficiary (e.g, her children from a previous marriage) or change her mind at any later time and make someone else the beneficiary (e.g. if she remarries, or becomes very fond of the person taking care of her in a nursing home and decides to leave all her assets to this person instead of her children, etc). But even if such disinheritances are unlikely and the children are perfectly happy to wait to inherit till Mom passes away, as JoeTaxpayer points out, by not disclaiming the IRAs, the OP's mother can delay taking distributions from the IRAs till age 70.5, etc. which is also a good option to have. The worst scenario is for the OP's mother to not disclaim the IRAs, cash them in right away (huge income tax whack on her) or at least 50% of them, and gift the OP and his sibling half of what she withdrew (or possibly after taking into account what she had to pay in income tax on the distribution). Gift tax need not be paid by the OP's mother if she files Form 709 and reduces her lifetime combined gift and estate tax exemption, and the OP and his sibling don't owe any tax (income or otherwise) on the gift amount.
"I think that ""better"" is up to a discussion, but the difference is that while in trust you can control the money after your death in some way - giving it directly to children means you have no such control. I.e.: in trust you can stipulate that the children will be able to spend the money under certain terms or in certain ways (for example - for college, only after getting married, no more than 10% of the value a year, etc), giving their names as the beneficiaries means that they get the money and can do with it whatever they please. BTW: ""Minor"" has nothing to do with it. They don't have to be minors, or your children at all."
"No, in the UK you don't need to pay tax on gifts in general. In theory there could be an inheritance tax issue. But it's highly unlikely to apply here. It could only apply at all if all of the below apply: But even then the allowance would probably count as a ""regular gift out of income"" and so would be ignored completely: Regular gifts from the giver’s income There’s no Inheritance Tax on gifts from the deceased’s income (after   they paid tax) as long as the deceased had enough money to maintain   their normal lifestyle."
"**What you need to know about [estate planning](http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/money101/lesson21/), including why you may need a will and assigning a power of attorney.** **1. No matter your net worth, it's important to have a basic estate plan in place.** Such a plan ensures that your family and financial goals are met after you die. **2. An estate plan has several elements.** They include: a will; assignment of power of attorney; and a living will or health-care proxy (medical power of attorney). For some people, a trust may also make sense. When putting together a plan, you must be mindful of both [federal and state laws](http://corlisslawgroup.com/) governing estates. **3. Taking inventory of your assets is a good place to start.** Your assets include your investments, retirement savings, insurance policies, and real estate or business interests. Ask yourself three questions: Whom do you want to inherit your assets? Whom do you want handling your financial affairs if you're ever incapacitated? Whom do you want making medical decisions for you if you become unable to make them for yourself? **4. Everybody needs a will.** A will tells the world exactly where you want your assets distributed when you die. It's also the best place to name guardians for your children. Dying without a will -- also known as dying ""intestate"" -- can be costly to your heirs and leaves you no say over who gets your assets. Even if you have a trust, you still need a will to take care of any holdings outside of that trust when you die. **5. Trusts aren't just for the wealthy.** Trusts are legal mechanisms that let you put conditions on how and when your assets will be distributed upon your death. They also allow you to reduce your estate and gift taxes and to distribute assets to your heirs without the cost, delay and publicity of probate court, which administers wills. Some also offer greater protection of your assets from creditors and lawsuits. **6.
What about giving back as a form of advertizing? Like the Adopt a Highway program (which will put up a sign saying that your company has adopted that part of the highway) or donating some of your items to be sold as a fund raiser and have your tags on them.  I feel like this is both a way to give back and a way to promote myself...  Is that wrong?
"Publication 590a covers this in a fairly specific manner. Page 11, section ""Are You Covered by an Employer Plan?"", specifies: The Form W-2 you receive from your employer has a box used to indicate whether you were covered for the year. The “Retirement Plan” box should be checked if you were covered. So, by default, if that's checked, you're covered. 590 does go into more detail, though. Assuming you're covered under a Defined Contribution plan (a 401k for example): Defined contribution plan. Generally, you are covered by a defined contribution plan for a tax year if amounts are contributed or allocated to your account for the plan year that ends with or within that tax year. Tax Year: Tax year. Your tax year is the annual accounting period you use to keep records and report income and expenses on your income tax return. For almost all people, the tax year is the calendar year. Further, they cover issues related to an employee leaving Dec. 31 very specifically: A special rule applies to certain plans in which it is not possible to determine if an amount will be contributed to your account for a given plan year. If, for a plan year, no amounts have been allocated to your account that are attributable to employer contributions, employee contributions, or forfeitures, by the last day of the plan year, and contributions are discretionary for the plan year, you are not covered for the tax year in which the plan year ends. If, after the plan year ends, the employer makes a contribution for that plan year, you are covered for the tax year in which the contribution is made. Example: Example. Mickey was covered by a profit-sharing plan and left the company on December 31, 2014. The plan year runs from July 1 to June 30. Under the terms of the plan, employer contributions do not have to be made, but if they are made, they are contributed to the plan before the due date for filing the company's tax return. Such contributions are allocated as of the last day of the plan year, and allocations are made to the accounts of individuals who have any service during the plan year.
"Life insurance is not required to be used to pay the debts of the estate. Life insurance proceeds are not part of your estate. They go   directly to the beneficiary, and are their property.  Your daughter   can do whatever she wants with the proceeds. She can pay off your credit cards if she wants, but she doesn’t have   to, even if your will said she should use the insurance money to pay   your debts. If that’s what you really want, you should make your   estate—not your daughter—the beneficiary of your insurance policies.   Then, the proceeds will become part of your estate, so they’d be   available to repay your debts. Source ... if the deceased owned life insurance and nominated a beneficiary   of the policy, the proceeds of that policy would not pass into the   deceased's estate, but would go directly to the nominated beneficiary Source The amount of the life insurance is included in the estate for the purpose of calculating estate tax, but not for the purpose of debt repayment. The estate for the purpose of estate tax is called the ""Gross estate"" and includes many things that are not included in a ""probate"" estate.  Source"
I know this is old, but Joe Taxpayer is wrong.  When you dissolve a corporation in selling it, all liabilities go with the old owners and the new owners, smartly starting with a new corporation and taxpayer ID, start with a clean slate.  The only way this is not true is if the new owners did not change a thing legally and kept everything the same, other than there names, which would be entirely insane if you asked any lawyer in the country.  Gift cards are a touchy situation, if not negotiated in the deal, by law the new owners DO NOT have to take them.  Yes, it's good PR, but when there's a considerable amount of money out there it could bury the new owners by giving away free stuff.
To avoid this you'd need to establish what constitutes a binding gift in your jurisdiction, so that you can say ""no, the point balance was not erroneous and here's the legal reason why"", and pay them nothing. You might also need to consider any tax implications in receiving such a large gift, and of course before paying tax on it (if that's necessary) you'd probably want to bug them for confirmation in writing that it really is yours. If that written confirmation isn't forthcoming then so be it, they've rescinded the gift and I doubt you're inclined to take them to court demanding that they stand by the words of their rep. Use them and play stupid. It's not my duty to check their math, right? That's potentially fraud or theft if you lie. You did notice, and even worse they have proof you noticed since you made the call. So never say you didn't notice. If you hadn't called them (yet), then you've been given something in error, and your jurisdiction will have an opinion on what your responsibilities are. So if you hadn't already called them, I would strongly suggest that you should call them or write to them about it to give them the opportunity to correct the error, or at least seek assurance that in your jurisdiction all errors in the customer's favour are final. Otherwise you're in the position of them accidentally handing you their wallet without realising, and you deciding to keep it without telling them. My guess is, that's unlikely to be a legally binding gift, and might legally be theft or fraud on your part."
This is a question I asked myself while considering an HSA, and I couldn't find any answers, so now that I have one, I'm answering it myself. I asked a family-friend/investment-banker about it, and he suggested you could only make distributions when on an eligible HDHP, but wasn't completely sure. I was about to post the question here to confirm or contradict his statement when I ran across IRS Publication 969 referenced in another SE question. In it, I found this statement under the 'Distributions From an HSA' heading:    If you are no longer an eligible individual, you can still receive tax-free distributions to pay or reimburse your qualified medical expenses. Which indicates that you can still make qualified, tax-free distributions even when you are no longer eligible to contribute. (Unless someone else has evidence to the contrary)
"This is not intended as legal advice, and only covers general knowledge I have on the subject of wills as a result of handling my own finances. Each state of the USA has its own laws on wills and trusts. You can find these online. For example, in Kentucky I found state laws here: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/krs/titles.htm and Title XXXIV is about wills and trusts. I would recommend reading this, and then talking to a lawyer if it is not crystal clear. Generally, if a lawyer does not draft your will, then either (1) you have no will, or (2) you use a form or computer program to make a will, that must then be properly witnessed before it is valid. If you don't have it witnessed properly, then you have no will. In some states you can have a holographic will, which means a will in your own handwriting. That's when you have that 3am heart attack, and you get out a pad of paper and write ""I rescind all former wills hereby bequeathing everything to my mistress Samantha, and as to the rest of you go rot in hell. "" One issue with these is that they have to get to court somehow, and someone has to verify the handwriting, and there are often state laws about excluding a current spouse, so you can guess for yourself whether that one might disappear in the fireplace when another family member finds it next to the body or if a court would give it validity. And there can be logic or grammar problems with do it yourself wills, made in your own handwriting, without experience or good references on how to write things out. Lawyers who have done a bunch of these know what is clear and makes sense. (1) In Tennessee, where I live, an intestate's property, someone who died with no will, is divided according to the law. The law looks to find a spouse or relatives to divide the property, before considering giving it to the state. That might be fine for some people. It happened once in my family, and was resolved in court with minimal red tape. But it really depends on the person.
"Yes, an estate plan can be very important.  Estate planning - typically attempts to eliminate uncertainties over the administration of a probate and maximize the value of the estate by reducing taxes and other expenses. Guardians are often designated for minor children and beneficiaries in incapacity. In general, your ""estate"" includes all of your assets, less all debt, plus death benefits from all life insurance policies not held in an irrevocable trust. The biggest reason to have an estate plan is to make sure that your personal values about both medical and personal finance financial matters are honored in the event that death or incapacity prevents you from acting for yourself. In addition, tax minimization is a further and very important goal of estate planning for persons with taxable estates. To create an estate plan for yourself or update an existing plan, you will most likely need the services of an estate planning attorney. When you consult with an estate planning attorney, the attorney considers how you want assets distributed to heirs, what taxes might your estate be liable for and whether there are tax-minimization strategies that would be appropriate and appealing; what your preferences and values are with respect to the management of medical and financial affairs in the event of incapacity; and any complicating family issues. To deal with these issues, your attorney will need full and accurate information about you, including: When an estate plan is created, be sure you understand what the attorney is saying. Estate planning ideas can be confusing. It is also appropriate and expected for you to ask about the attorney's fee for any legal service. Some articles and resources: Get ahead of your estate planning Estate Planning by CBA"
Before jumping into the estate planning process, it's important to establish exactly what you want, and need, to happen after you die and relay those wishes to those around you. ""We find that the best transitions and financial transfers happen when all family members are involved in the [decision making](http://corlisslawgroup.com),"" says John Sweeney, executive vice president of retirement and investing strategies at Fidelity Investments. ""This way, after a loved one is gone, no one is squabbling over a couch or going, 'Why did person A get more than person B?' If wishes are laid out clearly while the individual is living, they can share the rationale behind the decisions."" Focus on the basic estate plan components. Experts say life insurance, a will, a living will and a durable power of attorney are all important aspects of an estate plan that should be established at the start of the planning process. In the event of an untimely death, life insurance can replace lost earnings, which can be especially beneficial for younger individuals, says Bill Kirchick, a partner with Bingham McCutchen law firm in Boston. ""Young people can't afford to die,"" he says. ""They are going to lose a source of income if something happens to a young couple and they haven't had enough time to accumulate wealth from earnings to put aside in savings or a retirement plan."" Also, the earlier you take out a life insurance policy, the more likely you are to be approved for reduced rates compared to older individuals. Utilize estate planning professionals. To draft these basic estate plans, experts recommend carefully selecting a team of professionals who will educate you and draft what you need based on your individual situation. ""Don't feel like you have to jump at the first person whose name is given to you,"" Kirchick says. ""I think that people should interview two or more attorneys, accountants, trust officers, financial advisors and so on."" According to financial planning experts, the average initial cost for the legal drafting of a will, living will and durable power of attorney documentation is between $500 and $1,200, depending on the family size and location. Continue to review your plan over time.
As Mhoran stated, no dependents, no need.  Even with dependants, insurance is to cover  those who would otherwise have a hardship. Once the kids are off to college and house paid for, the need drops dramatically.  There are some rather complex uses for insurance when estates are large but potentially illiquid. Clearly this doesn't apply to you.
"For most situations the ""no need"" answers are 100% correct. The corner case to think about depends on your health and your family history.  Not to be morose, but if folks in your family who died young from heart issues, clusters of cancer or other terminal illnesses, you may want to consider getting medically qualified for a modest amount of insurance when you are young. Then, when you have children, you usually have the option of incrementally upgrading your coverage over time."
It can be a necessity if other routes are congested during a mandatory evacuation, if you consider saving lives a necessity.  Edit:  Even ignoring the right to life, the people own the airways.  I guess I would assume that in the agreement between the people (the FAA) and the private airlines, some requirements regarding emergency situations would be included.  No?
To the best of my knowledge, Los Angeles County does not require a lawyer to be involved in a real-estate transaction. I looked through the County Recorder site and found no evidence that a lawyer is required. I live in a different county in California where a lawyer is also not required for real-estate transactions. Some counties do require a lawyer to be involved. That said, a purchase contract - is a contract. A legal document which you sign. A realtor may be able to help you understand the housing market pricing trends, but cannot (not allowed by law) draft the contract for you or advise to you on the clauses of the contract you're signing. Only a lawyer licensed in your State (California) is allowed to do that. So if you want a legal advice about the contract you're going to sign - you need to talk to a lawyer. Especially if you want a contract drafted for your own special needs, or have some specific titling requirements (for a company, or a trust - for example). Same goes for the mortgage contract and any other piece of paper you'll be signing during the closing meeting (and there will be plenty of such signatures). So it is not a question of need, it's a question of should.
"As others have said, if you don't have dependents, there's little need for life insurance. If you can't think of any obvious beneficiary for an insurance policy, than you probably don't need one. ""Dependents"" here should be understood broadly. It wouldn't necessarily be limited to wife and children. If you're the only support for your handicapped cousin, for example, you might want to provide for him. But I take it from your question that you have no such special case. Of course even if you have no dependents now, you might pick some up in the future. And if and when that does happen, your medical situation may have changed, making it difficult to get life insurance. But if you have no immediate plans so that any such even is likely to be far away, a serious alternative to consider would be to invest the money you would have paid in insurance premiums. Then if someday you do acquire dependents, you have a pot of money set aside to provide for them in case something happens to you. If it's not enough and you can get insurance at that time, then great, but if you can't get insurance, at least there's something. If you never do acquire dependents, you can consider that pot of money part of your retirement fund."
out of all of these, luck is unquestionably the most necessary of the conditions.    do you know successful lazy people? i do  do you know successful undetermined people? i do  do you know successful dimwits? i do  do you know successful idiots? i do  do i know successful people who didn't have an extremely high amount of luck in their lives? nope.    pretending that luck isn't a necessary condition implies that there are sure thing, can't lose undertakings in life. there aren't.   and that doesn't even begin to address a priori luck in terms of ones heritage.