Historically Low Interest Rates Create Estate Planning Opportunities

For good or for bad, interest rates are currently near all-time lows, including the “applicable federal rate” (“AFR”) which is used to set minimum interest rates for certain gift and estate tax planning techniques. While bankers and financial institution executives routinely consider the implications of such low rates for their institutions, they also should carefully consider the opportunities these low rates create for their estate planning and for that of their customers. Community bank owners and executives, in particular should not overlook these techniques that may help persevere years of wealth creation.

The October 2011 AFR is 0.16% for short-term obligations (up to 3 years), 1.19% for mid-term obligations (more than 3 years, up to 9 years), and 2.95% for long-term obligations (longer than 9 years). Such low interest rates could make this a good time to consider several estate and gift tax planning strategies that are generally more beneficial during periods of low interest rates. Here are some common techniques for bankers to consider: 

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Blog Roundup

Below are several of the latest posts from the Porter Wright blog network. They cover diverse topics ranging from protecting your trademark with the new adult entertainment industry domain names to say-on-pay and EU data protection to "Facebook firings."

Act now to prevent use of your trademark with the new adult entertainment industry TLD

A new top level domain will soon be available for use by adult entertainment providers. In order to address concerns from trademark owners not in the adult entertainment industry, a sunrise reservation period has been established to enable trademark owners to reserve or "block" the new adult entertainment industry domain names that correspond to their registered trademarks. The period for trademark owners to reserve such domain names runs through October 28, 2011. Read more.

Ohio Federal Judge Allows Say-on-Pay Lawsuit to Proceed

In a September 20, 2011 Opinion, Judge Timothy Black of the Southern District of Ohio ruled that a lawsuit brought against senior executives and directors of Cincinnati Bell, Inc. alleging a breach of fiduciary duty regarding compensation would be allowed to proceed. The lawsuit focuses on the "say-on-pay" provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act: specifically, attacking the Board's decision to increase 2010 executive compensation in light of the nonbinding vote by 66% of the voting shareholders to reject that increase. Read more.

Basic Principles of European Union Consent and Data Protection

Any US company that receives data about individuals living in the European Union must be familiar with the basic principles of consent and data protection within the EU to avoid costly mistakes that are easily made in obtaining consent, should the validity of such consent be challenged by the EU data protection agencies. Read more.

First "Facebook Firing" Case Decided by NLRB Administrative Law Judge

Earlier this year, speculation and educated guesses gave way to NLRB General Counsel Advice Memoranda on how the NLRB will address unfair labor practice charges challenging so-called Facebook firing cases. Now we have our first charge that actually has gone to hearing and resulted in an Administrative Law Judge decision. Read more.

Is The Judicial Ping Pong Game Over Health Care Reform Coming To A Merciful Close?

The Obama administration was faced with a deadline to ask for an en banc review by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of a decision that declared the health care reform legislation’s individual mandate unconstitutional. Under applicable court rules, such a request had to be filed by Monday, September 26. A decision to seek such a review would have caused further delay, and very likely would have delayed the timing of a decision on the legislation by the Supreme Court until after the 2012 national elections.  Read more.

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