Peretz Co-Presents “What the Attorney Needs to Know about Life Insurance and ILITs”

October 25, 2019 | Trusts & Estates

On October 23, 2019, Michelle Peretz will co-present “What the Attorney Needs to Know about Life Insurance and ILITs” at the Nassau County Bar Association’s Insurance Law Committee meeting.

This presentation has two purposes. First, it’s an advisor’s guide for working with clients that are, or have children that are the owners/trustees of  Irrevocable life Ins trusts (ILIT’s), or Special Needs Trusts (SNT’s) who are not aware of their ethical and fiduciary responsibility for the care and maintenance of the life insurance policies funding the  ILIT or SNT that their clients are a party to. While life insurance is a perfect risk management tool both in and out of a trust, it does not come with a self management option. That’s the sole responsibility of the trustee.

As a result of 20+ years of reduced sustained interest rates and neglect on the part of the owners/trustees that weren’t aware that they should have been increasing their premiums, an increasing number of  non-guaranteed universal life policies have been expiring prematurely.  This program will discuss this problem as well as offer suggestions on how to prevent and fix the issue from becoming a bigger problem.

Secondly, as trust & estate practitioners, life insurance has proven to be a useful tool for estate tax planning, legacy planning for the next generation, and business succession purposes.  However, there are many other ‘living benefits’ to a life insurance portfolio that too often are not being taken advantage of.

This discussion will cover how to leverage those benefits to pay for qualified long-term care costs directly from the death benefit of a life Insurance policy, as well as how to take advantage of various tax-advantaged accumulation and distribution planning strategies, including the sale of a life policy as a ‘life settlement’ when life insurance is viewed as an ‘asset class’ rather than as merely providing a death benefit.

We will also review current insurer trends including the New York State Dept. of Financial Services regulations concerning the sale of life insurance, which will become effective February 2020.

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