Pre-Immigration Planning: Drop-Off Trusts + Private Placement Life Insurance – If the Tools Fit, Use Them

Volume 4 No 3    |    Read Article

By Shelly Meerovitch and John F. McLaughlin (guest authors)

Wealthy persons moving to the U.S. often engage a tax adviser to craft a pre-immigration plan. Typically, the plans focus on harvesting gains, stepping up the basis in appreciated assets that cannot be sold, and simplifying structures to ensure that future gains will benefit from favorable long-term capital gains rates. However, the truly sophisticated client may wish to take a long-range approach that maximizes the accumulation of wealth during life. Shelly Meerovitch and John F. McLaughlin of Bernstein’s Wealth Planning and Analysis Group, New York, explain the benefits of forming a pre-immigration drop-off trust to invest in a private placement life insurance (“P.P.L.I.”) policy. In optimal circumstances, the P.P.L.I. investment portfolio can maximize the accumulation of wealth, provided the client obtains timely and competent legal advice in the country of residence and the U.S.   See more →