Today, we will discuss one of the most common estate tax avoidance strategy: the A-B trust, the Family Trust, or the credit shelter trust. Thanks to the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2010, many clients won’t require this kind of estate planning anymore, but the A-B Trust still has important and handy uses and should always remain a […]
Thanks to the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2010, the estate tax exemption has been raised to a lofty $5.43 million for 2015, an amount that means that most clients won’t have to worry about the federal estate tax (unless they have a wealthy mindset!) It also fixes a part of the law that previously caused […]
In an earlier post, I discussed the pitfalls of using a one-size-fits-all operating agreement, especially for real estate investing. What about when an LLC has no operating agreement at all? This is a common scenario when someone files the articles of organization with their state’s secretary of state and declares the job well done. Usually, […]
Potential clients often ask me, “why do I need a lawyer if an LLC is so easy to form?” Sure, it doesn’t take much effort to log on to the Secretary of State’s website, but there is much more to LLC formation than just putting your name into a form and paying $125. An LLC […]
The series LLC is a novel limited liability entity that promises to solve many problems of the real estate investor. This article is meant to highlight some of the pros and cons of using a series LLC in your real estate investment. The Pros The traditional asset protection advice that gets repeated all the time […]
Over the few years I’ve been active on the website BiggerPockets, I’ve seen a few commercial printers pushing their top-of-the-line products for direct mail — official-looking envelopes that look like they’re being sent from the government. Here’s one example, from the “Department of Rate Notification Services,” in an official looking “zip envelope.” Here’s another example, […]
The debate about the legality of wholesaling burns brightly on BiggerPockets and the rest of the Internet. I’ve said my peace on the matter before, so today I want to talk about something different: deceptive practices. Wholesalers often find themselves stretching the truth to close the deal, whether it’s misrepresenting that you’re the end buyer, or even […]
Investors selling property with owner finance should be aware that they’re subject to Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act. This law specifically covers individuals or entities that issue residential mortgages or loans to consumers, and would squarely include investors selling property subject to a private mortgage for the purpose of owner finance. Prepayment penalties are controlled […]
Thomas v. Fletcher, a 2006 case out of the Ohio 3rd District Court of Appeals, is a sordid tale of three feuding corporate shareholders, and one man’s struggle to gain the upper hand against two brothers aligned against him. The case briefly touches on the conflict of interest presented by renting property to your corporation, […]
How easy is it to form a single-member LLC? Most investors log onto their Secretary of State’s website, pay their fee and file the state form to create their LLC, and think they’re done. Unfortunately, that’s not the whole story. A limited liability company needs to have rules about operating itself, what happens when it’s dissolved, […]