Sherrille Diane Akin’s Answers

IRS correspondence has been standardized. There are all kinds of Notices of Assessment. The notice may deal with assessment of a penalty, may deal with disallowance of credits or deductions. If you look at the upper right corner of the Notice, there will be a number (Letter/Number combination). I have provided a link to a helpful IRS webpage containing a chart which discusses all of the different Notices or Letters that the IRS issues to a taxpayer with respect to tax returns, taxes and...

I concur with my colleague. Don't try to do this on your own. Do-it-yourself forms are not specialized to individual states and absolutely are not tailored to your father's specific situation. Short answer is that, if prepared correctly and administered properly, the assets in an irrevocable trust are not taxed at the death of the grantor. However, they are taxed at the time that the assets are gifted in to the trust. Again, find an experienced estate planning attorney to assist you. Right...

Please accept my condolences on the loss of your mother and the difficult situation you now face. Initially, you must accept the fact that the proceeds of the life insurance policy belong to your brother as the named beneficiary and he has no legal obligation to use the proceeds to pay estate debts or to share them with you or your other siblings. That is the consequence of the manner in which your mother left the policy benefits. She should have made other provisions for the funds. Secondly,...

I'm not sure what a PI will do for you. If your husband has an interest in a trust, the next step would be to find out whether the spendthrift provision is or is not effective with respect to child support. It may or may not be, depending upon the specific provisions in the trust agreement. If the trust is not an Ohio trust, you will need an estate planning attorney licensed in the state whose law governs interpretation of the trust. I don't know that this is that uncommon because one...

I think you have this backwards. Your trust can be a beneficiary of your IRA. If you are considering this, you need to consult with an estate planning attorney to review the terms of your trust and amend it, if necessary, to be sure it contains appropriate terms and language. Your IRA is a tax preferred account which has limitations on the contributions it can receive. If your trust is making distirbutions, then presumably you are deceased. If you are deceased, contributions can no longer...

It is a good idea to make these kinds of plans when you have a minor child. A consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney will answer your questions. There are so many factors that come into play in deciding what documents should be included in an estate plan that your question won't be fully answered by any commetator. I typically meet with new estate planning clients for two hours to go over their situation, including family issues, assets, plans, concerns etc. That being...

As stated by my colleagues, we attorneys don't get paid to answer the questions, so we have to find time to look through the questions in our "spare" time- which is very precious to most of us. Further, we aren't able to answer just any questions, only those in areas that we are experienced in. Finally, I've looked at a few unanswered questions and I don't know if they are yours, but many of them I just can't figure out what the question is. To get an answer, you are best including some basic...

No, the annual exemption is a complete exemption from gift tax meaning that you can give any number of people up to $13,000 and they won't be considered "gifts" at all. As far as the potential of "clawback" of excess lifetime exemption against gift tax, that is not likely to happen. Capitol Hill sources have been quoted to say that, in the event the gift tax exemption is returned to $1,000,000, the credit formula will be adjusted to add them back in for purposes of increasing the estate tax...

I think discussing the complete situation with an attorney is an absolute must before you do anything. Are you being represented in your divorce action? If so, ask your counsel why the house is being quitclaimed to you if (1) you aren't on the mortgage/note and (2) it is underwater. If you plan to pay on the mortgage and continue to reside in the property, just remember that you won't be able to modify or reform the mortgage under any of the available programs because it isn't your mortgage....

The Supreme Court of Ohio is intended to be the highest court of review and, accordingly, only accepts appeals of important questions, unusual circumstances, and issues for which there is a split of opinion (i.e., lower Ohio appeals courts have reached different conclusions on the same question). Criminal cases in which the death penalty is imposed automatically get appealed to the Supreme Court and certain administrative law cases also can be appealed directly to the Supreme Court. Otherwise,...