On November 6, the IRS announced the official estate and gift exclusion amounts for 2020 in Revenue Procedure 2019-44. For an estate of any decedent dying during calendar year 2020, the applicable exclusion is increased from $11.4 million to $11.58 million.  This change increases not only the applicable exclusion amount available at death, but also a taxpayer’s lifetime gift applicable exclusion amount and generation-skipping transfer exclusion amount.  This means a husband and wife with proper…

Seasoned trusts and estates practitioners know certain truths, such as: Stuff happens. Some estate tax disputes should not be litigated, but they are anyway. Sometimes justice is done. The recent case of Estate of Skeba (Civil Action No 17-cv-10231, D NJ Oct 3, 2019)) in the District Court of New Jersey reflects all of the above. In Skeba, the decedent died on June 10, 2013.  The estate was valued at approximately $13.1 million and was…

In a news release on July 26, 2019, the IRS announced that it was sending letters to taxpayers with virtual currency transactions that potentially failed to report income and pay the resulting tax.  See IR-2019-132. The announcement is an indication of increased IRS collection and enforcement activity in the area of virtual currency.  The IRS recently received information about approximately 13,000 taxpayers with virtual currency transactions through a subpoena of the virtual currency exchange, Coinbase. …

Reprinted with permission from the 3/28/19 edition of the New Jersey Law Journal© 2019 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-257-3382 or reprints@alm.com. In light of ever-present budget shortfalls in most states’ coffers, a go-to revenue generating technique affecting all business owners is a “nexus” audit. The U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer in South Dakota v. Wayfair, 138 S.Ct. 2080 (2018), overturning the longstanding precedent…

In a recent unpublished opinion, the New Jersey Appellate Division summarized the factors a trial court must consider when awarding attorneys’ fees in Will contests.  In Matter of the Estate of Fornaro, 2019 WL 2172791, the decedent executed a Will in 2011 leaving the bulk of his estate to his son.  In an earlier 1999 Will, however, the decedent had divided his estate equally between his son and daughter. The decedent died in 2012 and…

Many people familiar with litigation probably think of pretrial discovery in the context of traditional and often heated litigation—perhaps a contentious divorce, a complex contractual or real estate dispute or a contested personal injury or medical malpractice lawsuit.  While pretrial discovery in Florida is certainly very common in these types of cases, the Florida Probate Rules allow for discovery even in non-contested, routine estate administrations where there are no adverse parties or claims, i.e., matters…