The Mobile Client: Tax, Community Property, and Other Considerations (Portfolio 803)

Description

Tax Management Portfolio, The Mobile Client: Tax, Community Property, and Other Considerations, No. 803, addresses various aspects of general and tax law that impact a client who changes domicile and discusses documents such a mobile client should execute to implement his or her estate plan. Particular attention is paid to issues that arise when the domicile change involves a move from a common law to a community property jurisdiction, and vice versa. The portfolio discusses the ramifications, as well as the mechanics, of a domicile change, co-ownership forms (including community property), spousal property agreements, and the estate and gift tax implications of the ownership choices.

Because community property laws vary considerably among the community property jurisdictions, the advisor should always consult an attorney admitted to practice in the prospective domicile and advise all clients that, if they contemplate a change of domicile at any future date, all instruments of the clients’ existing estate plans should be reviewed by a lawyer admitted to practice in the jurisdiction to which the clients plan to move. Finally, a client executing a premarital agreement should be warned that, if either the client or future spouse ever moves to a community property jurisdiction, not all of the provisions in the agreement (particularly those affecting property rights) may be valid.

The citations to case law and statutes are meant to be illustrative of the issues that must be considered when advising the mobile client but are not meant to be definitive statements about the current status of the law. The advisor should review the relevant case and statutory law of the state or states where the client currently lives and plans to move when giving advice or drafting documents.
Except for the community survivorship agreements, the jointly funded revocable trust, and several model clauses, the sample forms in the Worksheets do not necessarily reflect potential community property problems. Therefore, when a client is domiciled in or planning to move to a community property jurisdiction, the advice of a lawyer in that jurisdiction should be sought as to whether the form adequately deals with the client’s problems.

This portfolio may be cited as Mezzullo, 803 T.M., The Mobile Client: Tax, Community Property, and Other Considerations.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Conflicts of Law
III. Domicile Issues for the Migrant Client
IV. Multistate Issues of Testate and Intestate Succession
V. Probate Process
VI. Co-Ownership of Property
VII. Community Property in Relation to the Migrant Client
VIII. Special Situations and Planning Techniques
IX. Planning for the Move to and Arrival in a Community Property Jurisdiction
X. Planning for the Move to and Arrival in a Common Law Property Jurisdiction