Team Tisser Foundation (TTF) is a non-profit corporation founded by Doron M. Tisser and his wife Laurie. TTF raises money for various charitable purposes and does not focus on any one charity or charitable purpose. The goal is to raise as much money as possible to "Help Make A Difference" by "Improving Life for Others." TTF has made donations to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Challenged Athletes Foundation, as well as charities helping people affected by natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunamis. Since 2000, TTF has donated over $250,000 to over 40 different charities. Friends and clients generally donate money to TTF to support Doron's participation in triathlons and marathons. If you would like more information about TTF, please contact Doron at doron@tisserlaw.com, or visit www.teamtisser.org

About
Doron M. Tisser
Doron M. Tisser has specialized in estate and gift planning, tax planning, trust and probate administration, charitable giving, buy-sell agreements, and related areas for over 30 years. Mr. Tisser is one of less than 100 attorneys in California who has been designated as both a Certified Specialist in Probate, Estate Planning and Trust Law, and as a Certified Specialist in Taxation Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.

Mr. Tisser has been chosen by his peers as a Top 100 Super Lawyer in Southern California since 2011. In addition, he has been selected by his peers as Super Lawyer for Southern California since 2009. Mr. Tisser has also been awarded the highest possible rating by his peers, an “A.V.” rating, for the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. This rating is based on ethical considerations and legal skills.

Mr. Tisser has been quoted and referenced in many magazines and newspapers across the country including Forbes Magazine, US News and World Report, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Entrepreneur Magazine.

Doron competes in triathlons, including Ironman races, and raises money for charities through Team Tisser Foundation, a non-profit corporation he co-founded with his wife Laurie.

What’s Happening

Tisser Law Group is proud to announce the hiring of Tina Videnova, Esq., as an associate attorney in the area of estate planning.

Prior to joining the firm, Tina spent 7 years working in Ultra High Networth Wealth Management (US Trust and Goldman Sachs) addressing clients' needs in the areas of tax, trust and estate planning, business succession, asset protection and retirement planning. She began her career as a Trust Officer with Bank of America Private Bank.

Tina graduated summa cum laude from Campbell University, North Carolina, where she received a Bachelor's Degree in Trust Administration and Investments and an MBA. She completed her JD cum laude from Southwestern Law School and is a Member of the California State Bar. Tina is a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor. She is also a member of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and Women Lawyers of Los Angeles. In her spare time Tina competes in triathlons and plays the piano.

Doron M. Tisser, Esq. and Brian H. Standing, Esq. are proud to announce their article on "The Continued Viability of Using Bypass Trusts After The Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012" was published in the June 2014 issue of The Practical Lawyer, an American Law Institute publication.

The central issue in the article is whether a 2nd trust (called a bypass trust) should still be used at the death of the first spouse to die, or whether all of a couple’s assets should continue to be held for the surviving spouse in one trust. This would apply in a situation where a couple has a net worth, in general, of less than $5 million.

Historically, a bypass trust was used to avoid estate taxes at the 2nd spouse’s death when the amount that could be left estate tax free was lower than it is today. With the estate tax exemption being $5.34 million today, a bypass trust is not needed for estate tax purposes when the surviving spouse will be worth less than that amount at his or her death.

The article explores the non-tax reasons for using a bypass trust, even if there will be no estate taxes. For example, a bypass trust can be used to protect against a surviving spouse’s creditors.

Just because the estate tax exemption is higher than a couple’s net worth does not mean that a bypass trust should no longer be used. Whether a bypass trust is appropriate in a couple’s estate plan must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

If you would like to receive a copy of The Practical Lawyer article, please contact Laura Stein at laura.stein@tisserlaw.com.

PROTECTING INHERITED IRAs AFTER CLARK V. RAMEKER

The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Clark v. Rameker, decided on June 12, 2014, will affect how most people leave their Individual Retirement Accounts, 401(k)s and other retirement assets (IRAs) to family members. If you have an IRA that you plan on leaving to your family, you should consider doing special planning for it, as discussed below.

The Court’s decision in Clark provides that inherited IRAs are not protected under federal bankruptcy rules. So if a child of yours has an inherited IRA from you, the child could lose that IRA to his or her creditors in a bankruptcy. It is important to understand that the following discussion applies to IRA distributions to people other than a surviving spouse. While the Supreme Court did not address the issue of a spouse inheriting an IRA, an IRA inherited by a spouse should not be subject to the rules discussed below.

If you have an IRA, that IRA will pass to your beneficiaries at your death by way of a beneficiary designation form. If you name a child, for example, as a beneficiary of your IRA, your child can generally treat the IRA as an “inherited IRA”, which allows the child to avoid immediate income tax on the entire IRA and, instead, withdraw monies from the IRA over the child’s life expectancy. This allows the child to delay paying the income taxes on the IRA distributions and, in some cases, allows the IRA to grow faster than it is being withdrawn. In the Clark case, the question was if the child filed for bankruptcy, was the child’s inherited IRA protected from creditors under the Federal bankruptcy rules? The Supreme Court decided that the inherited IRA is not protected in bankruptcy, stating that an inherited IRA is different from an IRA created by the child in 3 ways:

1. The child cannot make additional contributions to the inherited IRA.
2. The child must begin taking distributions from the inherited IRA right away, rather than waiting until age 70 ½ as is the case with an IRA created by the child.
3. The child can withdraw as much of the money from the inherited IRA before age 59 ½ without penalty. With a regular IRA, there is a 10% penalty if the owner withdraws moneys prior to age 59 ½.

In today’s world, many people are as concerned about creditors as they are about taxes. Since inherited IRAs can be very large assets, the Clark case raises an important estate planning question: How does one go about leaving an IRA to a child, allow him or her to defer the income taxes on that inherited IRA, and ensure that the inherited IRA is not subject to creditors in a bankruptcy?

You can protect your child by having your IRA held in a designated beneficiary trust (DBT) for the child, rather than having the IRA name the child as the beneficiary. Since the child does not own the inherited IRA (the DBT does), the assets in the IRA should not be subject to his or her creditors. Also, the distributions from the IRA go into an account in the name of the DBT, which continues to protect the child. The child can be his or her own trustee of the DBT, determining when monies should be distributed from the trust account to him or her. To the extent the moneys distributed from the IRA are left in the DBT, they should be protected from bankruptcy.

Using a DBT to protect a child’s inherited IRA is not a new concept. It has often been used for other purposes, including protecting the IRA for a minor child as well as protecting the IRA for a child who may not be financially responsible. The Clark case, however, provides a compelling reason to use a DBT for every beneficiary’s inherited IRA.

If you have an IRA and will be leaving the IRA to someone other than a surviving spouse, you should consider using a DBT to protect the inherited IRA from the beneficiary’s creditors.