Insights

Short pieces by Terry L. (T. L.) Turnipseed on estate planning, trusts, asset protection, charitable planning and state and federal tax issues. New pieces are added regularly.

• Survivor-Ready Planning: The $54 Trillion Transfer That Comes First
  Before wealth passes from parents to children, most of it passes between spouses. A surviving spouse needs a roadmap, not a rush.
• The $15 Million Myth: Why State Death Taxes Still Bring Families to the Planning Table
  Many clients who are not federal estate tax clients are very much state death tax clients. The planning trigger comes earlier than most advisors think.
• Passion Assets, Hobby Losses, and the IRS: Lessons From a $200,000 Horse Case
  If a passion activity is going to be treated like a business, it has to be run like one. Structure and administration decide the outcome.
• Private Jets, Public Taxes: Tax Policy Follows Visible Wealth
  If an asset is easy to see, easy to value, and easy to connect to a family, it is easy to tax. Ownership design is the answer.
• The $617 Billion Wake-Up Call: Philanthropy Needs a Trust Strategy
  American giving passed $600 billion for the first time, and the growth came from planned gifts. Structure, not spontaneity, is driving philanthropy.
• Big Contract, Bigger Plan: What Athletes, Founders, and Executives Do After the Tax Hit
  Salary is salary and it gets taxed. The planning question is what happens to the wealth afterward.
• The Great Wealth Transfer and AI: Complexity Is the New Competitive Advantage
  Two forces are reshaping estate planning at once. Routine drafting is being commoditized while sophisticated planning is in greater demand than ever.
• The Simplest Estate Planning Mistake: Forgetting to Fund the Trust
  A trust only works if the assets actually make it into the trust. The documents may be excellent and the plan can still fail.
• Five Estate Planning Mistakes Families Make, and How to Avoid Them
  Most estate disputes are not about the law. They arise from surprise, from silence, and from plans that were never finished.
• Corporate Charitable Giving After the 2026 Rules: Six Lessons for C Corporations
  Corporate philanthropy is no longer a write-the-check-and-hope exercise. The deduction is won or lost on sequence, timing, and paperwork.