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Cincinnati, Ohio

ATTORNEY AT LAW

Established in
1999

OFFICE LOCATION

6020 Cheviot Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45247

Saturday
9:00 a.m.-1:00 p,m.
(Appointment Only)

Monday-Friday
9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

OFFICE HOURS

Vol.1	PRACTICAL LAW	3rd  Qtr.
	--“Law Worth Knowing"--
	NEW “TRANSFER ON DEATH” REAL ESTATE LAW FURTHER SIMPLIFIES ESTATE PLANNING TO AVOID PROBATE
	In 2002, Ohio law was changed to allow an individual real estate owner to name a beneficiary or beneficiaries to whom his or her real estate would transfer on his or her death, without Probate administration. The law also stated that, before the owners died, they retained full ownership of the property and could add or remove beneficiaries any time they wanted to do so. Recently, Ohio expanded the circumstances under which a transfer on death designation may be made. More.
	NEW TAX LAW MANDATES THAT ALL RETIREMENT PLAN BENEFICIARIES GET THE SAME “ROLL-OVER” OPTION AS SPOUSES HAVE HAD
	Historically, only spouses of a qualified retirement plan participant could roll over into an IRA the funds to which they became entitled on the plan participant's death. Non-spouse beneficiaries were required to accept a lump sum distribution on a plan participant's death. The advantage of the roll-over was that it allowed the spouse beneficiary to spread out the distribution of plan benefits over an extended period of time, thus (1) allowing the plan assets to grow, using pre-tax dollars, over a longer period of time, and (2) deferring the payment of income taxes until the plan benefits were distributed. Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 ("PPA"), non-spouse beneficiaries were given the right to  roll over funds from employer-sponsored qualified retirement plans into newly-established IRAs. However, that provision did not require retirement plans to offer a roll-over option to non-spouse beneficiaries. Consequently, many retirement plans did not offer that option, and many non-spouse beneficiaries were unable to take advantage of the PPA's roll-over provision. In late 2009, Congress corrected the the PPA's deficiency through the enactment of the Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act ("WRERA"). As of January 1, 2010, all employer-sponsored qualified retirement plans became obligated to offer direct IRA roll-overs to non-spouse beneficiaries. More.
	POPULAR MYTHS ABOUT WILLS--TRUE OR FALSE
	In the course of my practice, I have heard the same Will-related statements repeated often enough that I have  concluded that they have reached the level of “urban myths”. This brief article is intended to address some of those statements  insofar as they may mislead some people regarding what they need to do about their estate planning. MYTH #1:   If you have a Will, your estate will avoid Probate. ANSWER:   False. The Will is the “master plan for what happens in Probate.  It can simplify the Probate process because it authorizes the estate representative to carry out certain important steps without having to seek court orders in each instance, but it does not allow a person’s estate to avoid Probate. More.