My Blog
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Nina Stillman: Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2012 10:19 PM
 If you are like most people, you get into the
spirit of giving during the holiday season. Coupled with tax incentives, the
spirit of the holidays causes a much expected disproportion of charitable
donations during the end of every year. Since 2012 has just started, it’s a
good time to consider being generous now instead of next December.
There are a number of frequently forgotten
advantages to giving early in the year. Above all, if you start to plan your
donations now, you will get to spread the sum of the donation over several
months instead of having a large sum withdrawn from your account all at once. |
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Paul Berlin: Posted on Sunday, November 13, 2011 1:31 PM
 Insurance producers and companies are pushing indexed universal life as the next hot product. But is it? What the insurance company does is tie your cash-value growth into the S & P Index. However, the index provided by the Insurance company does not include dividends because they don't actually invest directly in the S & P Index. What the insurance company does is buy options on the S & P Index. They take part of your premium and hedge against the index. |
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Nina Stillman: Posted on Tuesday, November 01, 2011 1:38 PM
 "I am too young to have a will". or "Really, Me??? I don't have anything to plan for. These are the most common excuses I hear when younger people meet me and I tell them that I am an estate planning attorney. Business owners always tell me that they will take care of that when they make their money"! I have take n the liberty of adapting from a Wall Street Journal Blog an article about estate planning for all ages. "There’s a misconception that |
Attorney, Wills, Estate Planning, intestate, married, minor children, no will, single, Life Insurance, succession planning, taxes, guardians, power of attorney, Trust, aging parents, asset management
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Nina Stillman: Posted on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 5:06 PM
 The other day I was at my mother's house with my sister and my mom pulled us into her bedroom and sat us down. It was a little scary, but then she pulled out all of her jewelry and said its time to have some fun! She wanted us to tell her which pieces we wanted when she was no longer here and to tell us what she had already set aside for my niece. I reminded her that she also needed to put something aside for my brother even though he was not there with us. It brought her joy to hear the stories that we associated with the jewelry, hear her stories of pieces that had been handed down to her and peace of mind for her to know that her prized jewels were going to be in good hands. |
Attorney, Life Insurance, Business, Business law', business valuation, corporation, exit strategy, sale of business, succession planning, retirement, Family Business
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Nina Stillman: Posted on Tuesday, October 18, 2011 8:35 AM
 It is National Estate Planning Week! (ok so we had to declare it for ourselves!) What is estate planning and what are the basics you ask? Why is it important? Estate planning is a process utilizing the advice of trusted advisers to assist you with decisions about how to protect and distribute your assets(including your business if you own one) when you pass away, who should pay your bills and take care of your monetary affairs for you in the event that you are living but unable to take care of them yourself, and also who should make medical decisions for you based upon your wishes in the event that you are injured but cannot communicate your desires clearly. |
Wills, Estate Planning, minor children, Life Insurance, tax savings, Business law', business taxes, buy sell agreement, corpoation, corporation, dissolution, exit strategy, partnership, sale of business, succession planning, taxes, trusted advisor, disability, retirement, guardians, power of attorney, Charity, asset management
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Nina Stillman: Posted on Thursday, October 13, 2011 1:55 PM
 I have been blogging about business law and estate planning issues for a few months now and one client asked me " I love your posts but why do you do it? Why do you get out of bed and do this work everyday?" I realized that I have not told my story to too many people so here it is... I am the daughter of an entrepreneur/business owner who, while he may not have known it at the time, taught me so much about business and I have always wanted to do something with what I have learned from him. |
Attorney, Estate Planning, tax savings, Business, Business law', business taxes, business valuation, corporation, exit strategy, Limited liability, LLC, partnership, sale of business, succession planning, taxes, trusted advisor, retirement, Trust, compassion
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Nina Stillman: Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2011 5:44 PM
Taking care of your self, your career, your spouse, his or her career, your kids, their activities and school work, your home, your pets and being there for your friends... it can all get overwhelming. Add in a parent or other loved one who has a need for a caregiver and you can find yourself underwater. Taking care of yourself usually goes out the window first and that is actually the last thing that you want to do. You need to be healthy, physically nd emotionally so that you can help your loved one to the best of your ability. |
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Paul Berlin: Posted on Thursday, October 06, 2011 4:17 PM
 A formal buy sell agreement is between owners of a business to determine how the ownership of the business shall be disposed of upon the death or other circumstances of exit of one of the owners. The owners commonly use life insurance to fund the value. With two business owners, a cross purchase plan is the preferred method of ownership of the life insurance. This is where partner A owns a policy the life of on Partner B and vice versa. These policies are individually owned, and can be paid for from company money. |
Estate Planning, divorce, married, Life Insurance, tax savings, Business, Business law', business valuation, buy sell agreement, contracts, corporation, dissolution, exit strategy, financing, Limited liability, LLC, LLP, partnership, succession planning, trusted advisor
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Nina Stillman: Posted on Tuesday, September 27, 2011 7:02 PM
 I had the wonderful experience a few weeks ago thanks to my friend Pete Laffertyof Merril Lynch, to volunteer for a day at a Habitat for Humanity site and help build a house in North Minneapolis. You will all think that I am crazy, but I and 6-7 other volunteers spent about 5 hours swinging hammers and staple guns and the other hour was spent eating lunch and "putting a few things" together. It was fabulous!!!! The wall sections of the house were pre-made for us and we sheathed them with plywood (the hammering) and then we covered the plywood with water barrier paper( the staple guns). |
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Posted on Thursday, September 22, 2011 5:16 PM
 Most Americans are not in a situation of worrying about paying estate taxes upon their passing. In Minnesota you can pass your heirs, charities and special loved ones up to 1 Million dollars before ever having to pay estate taxes. The IRS allows you to pass up to another 4 Million dollars upon your death before worrying about being taxed at the Federal level. many people ask me with a smirk on their face- "Why do I need to bother with a will or estate plan? - I will never have to pay taxes". |
Attorney, Wills, Estate Planning, divorce, intestate, married, minor children, no will, single, tax savings, Revocable trust, trustee, dissolution, employment, real estate, taxes, trusted advisor, bankruptcy, disability, guardians, power of attorney, trust distributions, Uniform Gifts to Minors Act
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