Category Strategies

Many retirement benefits and pensions come with built-in legal protections that shield them from creditors, but these protections are not universal—they...

See-through trust rules are IRS regulations that determine how quickly beneficiaries must withdraw money from retirement accounts when the account owner...

A trust can be named as the beneficiary of a retirement account, pension, or other estate asset—and this approach offers both significant advantages and...

When a beneficiary named on your retirement account or pension dies before you do, your benefits don't automatically pass to a secondary beneficiary or...

A contingent beneficiary is a person or entity designated to receive retirement plan assets or life insurance proceeds if the primary beneficiary is...

Per stirpes and per capita represent two fundamentally different methods of distributing assets—most commonly pension benefits, retirement accounts, and...

Naming beneficiaries is one of the most consequential financial decisions you can make, yet it's often handled hastily or left unfinished.

The 10-year payout rule requires beneficiaries of most inherited retirement accounts to withdraw and distribute the entire account balance within 10 years...

When someone dies and leaves behind appreciated assets—stocks, real estate, collectibles—the IRS doesn't expect the heirs to pay capital gains tax on all...

The step-up in basis is a tax rule that allows heirs to inherit appreciated assets at their fair market value at the date of death, rather than the...