Counsel Protect, LLP

Should You Make Gifts in 2012?

Clark Allison — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:10:57 +0000

The 2012 gift tax exclusion is a whopping $5,120,000. It is scheduled to drop to $1,000,000 in 2013. If you have an estate value greater than $1,000,000 or greater than $2,000,000 if you are married, you may, depending on your age and your relationship with your children, want to take advantage of this year’s big [...]

Happy Mother’s Day

Clark Allison — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:02:38 +0000

Jason Gay has a great column on the real MVP. My mother never really helped me with sports. I’m not even certain if she loves sports. All she ever did was pack me up in the car for the first 17 years of my life, dragging me out of bed and telling me to eat [...]

WIlliam Jessup University

Clark Allison — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:32:20 +0000

Counsel Protect supports William Jessup University, the Sacramento private university, that is making a positive difference in the Sacramento community at large and in the lives of its students. We encourage you to support its transforming work by participating in their “Because of You” campaign to keep tuition affordable and graduate debt low. My friend, [...]

Estate Planning is Not Complicated

Clark Allison — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 22:15:38 +0000

If you have a family, you need to protect it. It’s your job. If you die, what happens to your spouse and children? The solution can be simple. An estate plan and life insurance. The estate plan usually involves a living trust and the life insurance can be a 20 year term policy. That will [...]

Making Charitable IRA Donations in 2012

Clark Allison — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:08:57 +0000

Making charitable donations from your IRA is different in 2012. Congress has made life difficult for tax attorneys, accountants, financial advisors and their clients as they continue to give and take away deductions. In 2011, under the Qualified Charitable Distribution provisions of the tax code, you could make an IRA distribution to a qualified charity [...]

Is Your Living Trust Funded?

Clark Allison — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:06:33 +0000

Although most families have not done their estate planning, many have, and many have established living trusts. The objectives in establishing a living trust are to avoid the high costs and hassles of a California probate and to provide an easy administration of the estate assets. Living trusts are great and will accomplish these objectives [...]

Do You Need Money for Your Business?

Clark Allison — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:35:16 +0000

My entrepreneur clients often ask me how to raise capital. My first response is the same response I give entrepreneurs when they ask me to help them issue stock to an employee: Do you really need to? Just like I advise business owners to not issue equity to an employee unless absolutely necessary, I advise [...]

Be Content and Indispensible

Clark Allison — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:04:14 +0000

Seth Godin writes about needing more to be happy: If your happiness is based on always getting a little more than you’ve got… then you’ve handed control over your happiness to the gatekeepers, built a system that doesn’t scale and prevented yourself from the brave work that leads to a quantum leap. The industrial system [...]

Estimated Taxes and Tax Refund Robbers

Clark Allison — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:46:15 +0000

Is it malpractice for CPAs to recommend their clients pay estimated taxes in light of the tax fraud epidemic? Here is a provocative article suggesting it might and it is generating a lot of discussion among lawyers and accountants. The issue is if you pay estimated taxes and someone steals your identity and files your [...]

Another Reason to Do Your Estate Planning

Clark Allison — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:17:37 +0000

According to Forbes, one in eight baby boomers will get Alzheimer’s after they turn 65. That in itself is enough reason to do your estate planning. If your planning is done – meaning you’ve done a durable power of attorney and a revocable living trust - then incapacity won’t require a court proceeding and court [...]