2023 Estate Planning

Happy New Year! We wish you and yours a great and healthy 2023 – let us know how we can help you with your legal needs. We offer convenient evening or weekend appointments, free house calls, and COVID-friendly remote options too.

2023 brings new planning opportunities:

• Tax free gifts up to $17,000/recipient/year, or $34,000/recipient/year from a married couple
• $12.92 million/person ($25.84 million/married couple) exempt from estate tax 

As you’re reviewing your personal and business legal needs in 2023, email me, give me a call, or text me. A good estate plan, including a trust where appropriate, gives you and your family affordable peace of mind. My law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, works with clients on various estate planning, elder law, and probate needs, including preparing wills or helping on will contests, trust consultation and drafting, to help clients take care of their legal needs quickly and inexpensively, and has years of experience counseling clients on various legal issues. Call/text (913.707.9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com), the KC Estate Planner, today to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2023

Happy 2022!

Happy New Year! We wish you and yours a healthy, joyous, and prosperous 2022 – let us know how we can help you with your legal needs. We offer convenient evening or weekend appointments, free house calls, and COVID-friendly remote options too.

2022 brings new tax and planning opportunities and challenges:

• Tax free gifts up to $16,000/recipient/year, or $32,000/recipient/year from a married couple
• $12.06 million/person ($24.12 million/married couple) exempt from estate tax 
• SECURE Act – no more stretch IRAs – most inherited IRAs must pay out RMDs within 10 years. With the new IRA rules, here are a few ideas: (1) Roth conversion, (2) taxable assets in a revocable trust, (3) review your trust, (4) consider a charitable remainder trust.

As you’re reviewing your personal and business legal needs, email me or give me a call. A good estate plan, including a trust where appropriate, gives you and your family affordable peace of mind. My law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, works with clients on various estate planning, elder law, and probate needs, including preparing wills or helping on will contests, trust consultation and drafting, to help clients take care of their legal needs quickly and inexpensively, and has years of experience counseling clients on various legal issues. Call/text (913.707.9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com), the KC Estate Planner, today to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2022

Welcome to 2021

Happy New Year! We wish you and yours a joyous, healthy, and prosperous 2021 – let us know how we can help you with your legal needs. We offer convenient appointments and COVID-friendly remote options.

2021 brings new tax and planning opportunities and challenges:

• Tax free gifts up to $15,000/recipient/year, or $30,000/recipient/year from a married couple
• $11.7 million/person ($23.4 million/married couple) exempt from estate tax
• SECURE Act – no more stretch IRAs – most inherited IRAs must pay out RMDs within 10 years. With the new IRA rules, here are a few ideas: (1) Roth conversion, (2) taxable assets in a revocable trust, (3) review your trust, (4) consider a charitable remainder trust.

As you’re reviewing your personal and business legal needs, drop me a line or give me a call. A good estate plan, including a trust where appropriate, gives you and your family affordable peace of mind. My law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, works with clients on various estate planning, elder law, and probate needs, including preparing wills or helping on will contests, trust consultation and drafting, to help clients take care of their legal needs quickly and inexpensively, and has years of experience counseling clients on various legal issues. Call/text (913.707.9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com), the KC Estate Planner, today to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2021, Stephen M. Johnson

Probate referrals

Are you a trial attorney who needs a probate estate opened up for a client’s wrongful death or personal injury claim? Is the client on Medicaid (or applying soon) and needs a special needs trust to handle their personal injury settlement or money from a jury verdict? Call Steve Johnson – (913) 707-9220, steve@johnsonlawkc.com. Steve’s an experienced probate and trust attorney who works with families and trial attorneys. Steve has competitive rates, is fast, knows how to navigate probate courts throughout Kansas City and across Kansas and Missouri, and offers caring, compassionate, individualized service to families. Steve respects the trial lawyer’s attorney-client relationship and comes alongside to help serve everyone’s needs. Steve works on Kansas probates, Missouri probates, and Kansas City metro probates.

We’re here to give you and your client affordable peace of mind. My law firm,  Johnson Law KC LLC, works with clients on various guardianship and conservatorship, probate, estate planning, powers of attorney, trust, special needs trust, and elder law needs, to help clients take care of their legal needs quickly and inexpensively, and has years of experience counseling clients on various legal issues. Call/text (913.707.9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com), the KC Estate Planner, today to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2020, Stephen M. Johnson/Johnson Law KC LLC

Guardianships and conservatorships

Do you have an adult or minor family member or friend who needs help with medical or financial decisions, but doesn’t have a medical or financial power of attorney (and isn’t able to sign legal documents)? Do you have a loved one in an assisted living or skilled nursing facility that needs legal help, but it’s hard (or impossible) to visit them with the COVID-19 rules? You need to hire an experienced, caring, compassionate lawyer to help you get a guardianship or conservatorship for your family member or friend. A guardian takes care of the medical needs of a person, while a conservator takes care of a person’s financial needs.

We have helped many families get a guardian and/or conservator appointed to care for their loved one, neighbor, or friend. Give us a call or text (913-707-9220) or email us (steve@johnsonlawkc.com) to see how we can help you care for your loved one. We offer quick service, working one-on-one with you, and charge reasonable fees with flexible payment options. We look forward to talking with you and seeing you we can help!

We’re here to give you and your family affordable peace of mind. My law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, works with clients on various guardianship and conservatorship, probate, estate planning, power of attorney, trust, special needs trust, and elder law needs, to help clients take care of their legal needs quickly and inexpensively, and has years of experience counseling clients on various legal issues. Call/text (913.707.9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com), the KC Estate Planner, today to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2020, Stephen M. Johnson/Johnson Law KC LLC

COVID-19, Estate Planning, and Legal Work

Kansas City is a strong community and we’re overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic together. Law firms are an essential service. We’ve adapted to the coronavirus pandemic (including wearing masks when outside or around other people, working with clients via email, Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, phone, or text, and having all clients or witnesses to sign with their own pens, sanitizing plastic clipboards after signing documents), and can do remote signings and notarizations of documents (in Kansas or Missouri). We’re closely following all local and state developments, including shelter in place orders and re-opening rules to ensure we’re serving your legal needs with excellence while protecting your safety. As always, we’re here for you, with reliable, state of the art legal documents, reassuring counsel, and together, we will overcome this coronavirus pandemic and look forward to a bright future together. Call/text me at (913) 707-9220 or email me at steve@johnsonlawkc.com and let’s discuss how we can serve your legal needs.

(c) 2020, Stephen M. Johnson/Johnson Law KC LLC

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We wish you and yours a joyous and prosperous 2020 – let us know how we can help you along the way with your legal needs.

From a tax and planning perspective, 2020 brings new opportunities and challenges:

• Tax free gifts up to $15,000/recipient/year, or $30,000/recipient/year from a married couple
• $11.58 million/person ($23.16 million/married couple) exempt from estate tax
• SECURE Act – no more stretch IRAs – most inherited IRAs must pay out RMDs within 10 years. With the new IRA rules, here are a few ideas: (1) Roth conversion, (2) taxable assets in a revocable trust, (3) review your trust, (4) think about a charitable remainder trust.

As you’re reviewing your personal and business legal needs, drop me a line or give me a call. A good estate plan, including a trust where appropriate, gives you and your family affordable peace of mind. My law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, works with clients on various estate planning, elder law, and probate needs, including preparing wills or helping on will contests, trust consultation and drafting, to help clients take care of their legal needs quickly and inexpensively, and has years of experience counseling clients on various legal issues. Call/text (913.707.9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com), the KC Estate Planner, today to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2020, Stephen M. Johnson

Estate Planning in 2019 and 2020

Fall is here! The autumn leaves will soon change colors, and it’s time to start thinking about year end planning for 2019 and getting ready for a great and prosperous 2020. I enjoyed an interesting estate planning 2019-2020 webinar today featuring several national estate planning luminaries and attorneys (Jonathan Blattmachr, Sandra Glazier, Joy Matak, and Martin Shenkman). The webinar discussed estate planning opportunities for the rest of 2019 and early 2020. The speakers looked ahead to potential tax changes that the 2020 election may bring. The speakers had several handouts: here, here, here, here, and here.

A good estate plan, including a trust where appropriate, is an affordable way to give you and your family peace of mind. My law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, works with clients on various estate planning, elder law, and probate needs, including preparing wills or helping on will contests, trust consultation and drafting, to help clients take care of their legal needs quickly and inexpensively, and has years of experience counseling clients on various legal issues. Call/text (913.707.9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com), the KC Estate Planner, today to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2019, Stephen M. Johnson.

 

Trust State Income Taxes

Happy summer 2019! This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on state income taxation of trusts. The Court ruled 9-0 (per Justice Sotomayor) that a North Carolina law taxing any trust distribution “for the benefit of” a North Carolina resident was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled the state trust income tax was unconstitutional for state residents if the resident (1) “received no income from the trust in the relevant tax year,” (2) “had no right to demand income from the trust in that year,” and (3) “could not count on ever receiving income from the trust.” This common sense ruling is good news for trust beneficiaries. If you’re a trust beneficiary, you should talk with an attorney and accountant to explore how this decision might impact their situation. Here are some basics on Kansas and Missouri trust income taxes.

A good estate plan, including a trust, is an affordable way to give you and your family peace of mind. My law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, works with clients on various estate planning, elder law, and probate needs, including preparing wills or helping on will contests, trust consultation and drafting, to help clients take care of their legal needs quickly and inexpensively, and has years of experience counseling clients on various legal issues. Call (913.707.9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com), the KC Estate Planner, today to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2019, Stephen M. Johnson.

To Prenup or Not? The Prenuptial Conversation

Prenuptial agreements can evoke awkward and dreaded conversations. But discussing if a prenup is needed is a wise and smart idea in preparing for marriage. Wealth Management has this helpful article discussing prenups and the oft-dread prenuptial conversation. Prenups can be helpful (even recommended or essential) in some situations, but may not be needed or useful in other situations – just like a will or estate plan, it’s not a one size fits all deal. With wise counsel and an honest evaluation, the prenuptial conversation can be helpful, clarifying, even uplifting or encouraging to the couple, rather than awkward and dreaded. The article highlights 4 good questions to think about when evaluating prenups and your relationship:

1. Wealth identity
2. Raising children in wealth
3. Rules of engagement, and
4. Death, inheritances, and taxes

In fact, those 4 questions and conversations are a good idea to discuss in any relationship, regardless of whether a prenup is in play. If you’re thinking of getting married soon, you need to think about the prenup question and have the conversation, even if you both decide not to sign a prenup. Honest and open communication is vital in relationships, especially about money and financial issues. Don’t risk your relationship by delaying important conversations. If you need a prenup or an estate plan (for any size of estate, large or small) or need help handling a loved one’s estate, my law firm is here to help you each step of the way.

Prenups and estate plans are affordable and can give you peace of mind. My law firm, Johnson Law KC LLC, works with clients on various estate planning, elder law, and probate needs, including preparing wills or helping on will contests, prenup consultation and drafting, to help clients take care of their legal needs quickly and inexpensively, and has years of experience counseling clients on various legal issues. Call (913.707.9220) or email me (steve@johnsonlawkc.com), the KC Estate Planner, today to schedule a free, convenient consultation.

(c) 2018, Stephen M. Johnson, Esq.