Paley Rothman shares this library of resources with clients and friends of the firm to help them stay ahead of legal and business developments and trends. Here, you will find helpful tips and tools written by our attorneys. The information in the blogs and articles is not a substitute for legal advice and should not be relied on as such. Should you have any questions or want legal advice, please contact the attorney who wrote the blog or article.
By now you have almost certainly heard that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal definition of marriage as “marriage only between a man and a woman” in United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. ___ (2013). As a result, same-sex spouses can now enjoy many federal benefits that were previously unavailable to them.
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With a 5-4 decision in the case of U.S. v. Windsor (available here), the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment. DOMA, which was enacted in 1996, established that, for the purposes of all federal laws and programs, “marriage” is defined as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife” and “spouse” is defined as only “a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.”
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Congress and President Obama finally reached an agreement to prevent the fiscal cliff, which returned many of the estate tax provisions to the 2012 levels. For example, all individuals are allowed to give - during life and at death - a total of $5,250,000 (to be indexed for inflation) of assets without incurring federal estate or gift tax. In addition, under the so-called “portability” rules, a married couple can shelter assets totaling $10,500,000 from federal estate tax with no estate planning. The primary change to the pre-2013 estate tax laws is that the rate is increased to 40% (up from 35%).
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On April 4, 2012, Governor Bob McDonnell signed into law new trust legislation which provides additional opportunities for Virginia and non-Virginia residents to achieve creditor protection. Effective July 1 of this year, a person may create a self-settled spendthrift trust into which the settlor (otherwise known as the person creating the trust) irrevocably transfers assets to a trust, and the assets are protected from claims of the settlor’s creditors, provided the settlor is a discretionary beneficiary and there is at least one other beneficiary of the trust.
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More and more, estate planning includes the drafting of special provisions tailored to non-traditional - but increasingly common - family arrangements. Of the many couples and individuals who have recently adopted children or are considering it, a certain number have taken - and are now taking - advantage of modern reproductive technology in order to conceive a child. Many of these people come to us with legitimate concerns about how best to provide for the future care and needs of their child (or children) in their estate plan, especially when the development of new reproductive technology seems to be outpacing the development of Maryland (and other state’s) law.
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