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Excellent Attorney! Girum and his team are professionals, understanding and most of all, they treat their clients with respect. I was very satisfied and impressed by the service this Law firm provided me.
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ESTATE PLANNING
With a well-drafted estate plan in place, you can ensure your wishes are carried out and your loved ones are protected in the future. At Tesfaye Law, we have a deep understanding of the close relationship between the law and our personal and financial lives. Our legal team can thoroughly review your finances, determine your available legal options, and help you develop an effective and customized estate plan that protects everything you have and everyone you love.
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FOR CREATING A SECURE FUTURE
There's a lot that goes into setting up a comprehensive estate plan, but with our FREE worksheet, you'll be one step closer to getting yourself and your family on the path to a secure and happy future.
Immigration and Estate Planning
As an immigrant to this country, you will already face many significant challenges. To protect your future and avoid unintended consequences, you will need to take special care to understand how U.S. estate planning laws will impact you and your loved ones as noncitizens. Our Alexandria immigration and estate planning lawyers at Tesfaye Law are prepared to help you….
FRESH FROM THE BLOG
What Happens When You Don’t Trust Your Trustee – Part I
Trusts have become ubiquitous parts of estate plans. Many Estate Plans use revocable trusts as the foundation for the plan while others include irrevocable trusts. Regardless of the planning reason, every trust needs a trustee. The grantor may name the beneficiary as trustee, or the grantor may name another individual or entity as trustee, creating a natural tension between the beneficiary and trustee. If the tension becomes too great, the beneficiary may seek to have the trustee removed. As expected, the avenues for removal depend upon the trust instrument itself, as well as any statutory remedies available.
READ MORE...What You Need to Know About SECURE Act 2.0
IRAs have become ubiquitous components of estate plans. The SECURE Act of 2019 altered the landscape for IRAs significantly. Just when advisors began to get comfortable with the new 10-year rule, the United States Treasury Department promulgated proposed Treasury Regulations early in 2022 adding additional complexity to that rule by requiring annual distributions for a non-EDB of a participant who died after their Required Beginning Date. Once again, the SECURE Act includes additional provisions with which every advisor should be familiar.
READ MORE...Planning for the International Client
As the world shrinks due to increased mobility and interconnectedness, estate planning has become more complex. Now estate planning requires understanding issues that arise when a client owns assets in another country or resides in the U.S. but lacks citizen status. Things change for clients who neither reside in the U.S., nor have U.S. citizenship, but who own U.S. property.
READ MORE...Common Mistakes in Estate Planning – Part V
Some individuals create a Revocable Trust, pour-over Will, Property Power of Attorney, Health Care Power of Attorney, Living Will, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Authorization Act and think that those documents alone constitute a complete Estate Plan that will protect their family. While the documents themselves represent a solid beginning, the documents don’t cover every asset or concern. A qualified Estate Planning attorney will consider all and provide advice regarding all the elements necessary for a complete Estate Plan.
READ MORE...Common Mistakes in Estate Planning – IV
With the proliferation of the internet has come a plethora of websites claiming that individuals may take a “Do It Yourself” approach to Estate Planning. While individuals may think that a plan created by one of these companies will meet their needs and save them money, the opposite is true. These plans often fail to contain necessary provisions and usually cost the family more in attorneys’ fees. In addition, a Trusts and Estate practitioner can alert a family to techniques designed to lower the tax burden upon the death of an individual. It’s easy to make costly mistakes if you don’t have an attorney both at the drafting stage and the administration stage of Estate Planning.
READ MORE...Common Mistakes in Estate Planning – Part III
Those who take the time to create an Estate Plan usually desire to keep it private and to ensure that no beneficiary can alter the plan after their death. Sometimes, the desire to maintain privacy backfires and produces unanticipated consequences, such as litigation.
READ MORE...Common Mistakes in Estate Planning – Part II
When people think about an Estate Plan, they often have tunnel vision and focus on just a few of the many considerations that influence the plan. Most individuals focus on their assets and figuring out to whom they want those assets to pass. While those things matter, thinking about the intended beneficiary and their individual circumstances also matters. Certain types of beneficiaries require additional planning.
READ MORE...Common Mistakes in Estate Planning – Part I
Despite knowing that they should have an estate plan, many individuals look for shortcuts to creating an Estate Plan. They rely upon advice from seemingly well-intentioned individuals that if avoiding probate is their main goal and they don’t have a taxable estate, they need not seek out an attorney to create an Estate Plan. While options exist to avoid probate, probate avoidance is just one of many considerations in creating an Estate Plan.
READ MORE...What’s Estate Planning Got to do with Interest Rates – Part II
As interest rates continue to climb, Estate Planning practitioners look to different planning techniques to take advantage of rising rates. Two common estate planning techniques work well in higher-interest rate environments.
READ MORE...What’s Estate Planning Got to do with Interest Rates – Part I
Interest rates were at historic lows for many years. Those rates have begun to rise in recent months and may continue to do so. Practitioners need to monitor interest rates in order to advise clients regarding the most effective Estate Planning strategies in any environment.
READ MORE...The Inflation Reduction Act
President Biden scored a win on some issues, but a loss on others when he signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. The legislation left the estate and gift tax alone and made modest changes to the income tax. The Act will have a significant impact on those on Medicare because of the cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs and insulin.
READ MORE...Pondering Portability
The Internal Revenue Code grants spouses several tax benefits both during life and at death. Portability represents one of those benefits. Portability allows the surviving spouse to use the unused portion of the Applicable Exclusion Amount from their predeceased spouse. In Revenue Procedure 2022-32, the Internal Revenue Service extended the time during which a surviving spouse may elect portability without a Private Letter Ruling from two years to five years.
READ MORE...
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| Tuesday | 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM |
| Wednesday | 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM |
| Thursday | 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM |
| Friday | 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM |
| Saturday | By Appointment |
