Greetings again, everyone! I know you've just heard from me, but I have a few more things to say, which I hope you'll take a look at before hitting the "delete" key.
First, just a day or so after I sent my last message about the new finCEN rules that required a lot of arduous reporting about real estate transactions in order to prevent fraudulent money laundering activities, a Texas court decided that those rules were unwarranted and it declared them unenforceable. So, no matter what your transaction involves in the situations I described, there won't be any need to file the information the rules called for. If that decision is overturned on appeal and the rules are reactivated, I will certainly let you know. But, phew for now!
One more thing I'll add here from what I see all the time is about parents' ongoing challenges to decide about the right times for their offspring to receive distributions of their seniors' assets. Children become legal adults at 18, but they're often not even out of high school yet and they're unlikely to make the most mature and responsible choices about how to make the most of their benefactors' largesse. Then again, are distributions at 21 or 25 likely to guarantee a better outcome? I'm coming to the conclusion that any age we might pick is really just a roll of the dice and that these decisions need to be closely monitored and perhaps adjusted from time to time as our children and grandchildren develop. Some clients are even choosing instead to grant flexibility to their trustees to make discretionary distributions when good reasons to do so arise, rather than to be tied to birth dates on a calendar that may have no relation to real financial responsibility.
Finally, I want to urge you once again to join me this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at the Peterborough Community Theatre for a free showing of just about my favorite all-time movie, "To Kill a Mockingbird". We all need help lifting our spirits these days and restoring our faith in human decency and integrity, and this is the best prescription I know of to do so. I particularly urge you to bring anyone you know - young or old - who may not have seen this production before - or not recently enough!
Best wishes until then, Phil