NYCLA Estate Planning with Real Estate
March 25, 2008 by RickBryan
Attorney Martin Shenkman was at the House of Law last evening to give a presentation on various estate planning issues particular to real estate owners and developers. Mr. Shenkman is an incredibly prolific writer, having authored 36 books and over 700 articles on numerous topics of tax and estate planning; insurance, investments, and various other assorted matters. Check out his most excellent website at www.laweasy.com.
A couple of the items which stood out for me had to do with Attorney Shenkman’s understanding of “holistic estate planning,” which means including many issues under the umbrella of “estate planning” which aren’t usually thought of as being part of the engagement. Most specifically, Mr. Shenkman spoke about being sensitive to the client’s particular religious beliefs when designing the estate plan, and/or when drafting the various documents ancillary to the plan. A Muslim owner/developer of a shopping center may want to include in the master lease a prohibition against renting to liquor stores, for example. Or that the shared kitchen area should be kept vegetarian for the Hindu owner.
On a more technical note, Mr. Shenkman discussed how the planner must be sure to determine how Sec. 469 (the passive loss limitation rules) might impact the estate plan to the extent passive income from real estate activities accrues to the trust. According to Attorney Shenkman, a careful analysis of how the income, gift and estate tax rules interplay must be made before advising the client on how to structure their transactions.