Ownership and Estate Planning Techniques: Rapid Fire

What this video covers

• How Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship (JTWROS), Tenancy by the Entirety (TBE), and community property all skip probate, while Tenants in Common (TIC) does not
• Why community property is the only joint titling form that gives a double step-up in basis at death, versus a single step-up for all other forms
• The control-versus-tax tradeoff: revocable trusts avoid probate only, while irrevocable trusts remove assets from the taxable estate but cost the grantor all control
• Why inter vivos (living) trusts avoid probate, but testamentary trusts are created by a will and therefore must go through probate
• How beneficiary designations and transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts override a will in all cases, even when an ex-spouse is accidentally left listed
• The difference between per stirpes (deceased beneficiary's share flows to their children) and per capita (share redistributes among surviving beneficiaries only)
• What a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) does for employer retirement plans in divorce, and why IRAs do not use one
• How donor advised funds (DAF) work: cash deduction up to 60% of adjusted gross income (AGI), appreciated securities deduction at fair market value up to 30% of AGI, with excess carried forward 5 years