Kathryn A. Murphy

Kathryn A. Murphy, Esq., is an attorney with more than 20 years' experience administering estates and trusts and preparing estate and gift tax returns.

Articles & Books From Kathryn A. Murphy

Article / Updated 10-06-2022
As of January 1, 2013, an additional 3.8 percent tax was added to investment income in estates and trusts, thanks to provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. It's not an additional tax on every dollar, but only on the lesser of undistributed net investment income or any amount of adjusted gross income in excess of the highest tax bracket in any year.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-25-2022
As the fiduciary of an estate or trust, you have many duties, beginning immediately upon the decedent’s (deceased person’s) passing. You’re also guaranteed to become intimately familiar with a host of tax forms you may not have known existed.Tax forms to know as the fiduciary of an estate or trustWhen you’re administering an estate or trust, you may have to prepare a seemingly endless array of tax returns.
Article / Updated 07-06-2021
If you are serving as executor for a loved one's estate, you’ll need to consider all the stuff you find in the decedent’s residence (or residences). Everything the decedent owned outright on their date of death is now under your care as executor; you’re responsible for making sure that you account for this stuff and that it ends up where it’s supposed to.
Article / Updated 03-13-2020
When you’re administering an estate or trust, you may have to prepare a seemingly endless array of tax returns. The following table lists some of the most popular ones. Check with your accountant or attorney if you have any questions. Federal Tax Form Number and Name When It’s Required When It’s Due Form 1040 U.
Estate & Trust Administration For Dummies
Estate and Trust Administration For Dummies, 2nd Edition (9781119543879) was previously published as Estate and Trust Administration For Dummies, 2nd Edition (9781118412251). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.
Step by Step / Updated 03-10-2017
When you’re asked to administer a trust or estate for a relative or friend (especially if that person didn’t have a will), this important responsibility can feel overwhelming during an already difficult time. Here are ten pitfalls that often trip up unwary administrators — and that you should avoid:Don't fail to terminate an existing real estate purchase and sale agreement.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Bonds are pieces of loans, packaged by a corporation or a government as an investment product. When you purchase a bond, you’re purchasing a piece of someone else’s debt. In exchange for the money you’re lending, that debtor agrees to pay you interest. Bonds are sometimes referred to as fixed-income securities because the income that they generate for the trust is tied to the stated interest rate on the bond.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Leaving a trust behind for your husband or wife after you die isn’t a sign that you don’t think he or she can handle your money; instead, it’s a crafty tax technique designed to minimize the taxes paid on your estate at your death and also those due and payable after your spouse’s death. No matter what type of marital trust you’re administering, the value of that trust on the surviving spouse’s date of death is included in his or her estate tax calculations after he or she dies.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
When it comes down where the action is as far as administration is concerned, the real meat and potatoes of trusts are the irrevocable trusts, or trusts that grantors have created to hold property where the trust instrument may not be revoked or changed. So what is an irrevocable trust? The grantor has given up all right, title, and interest to the assets held in an irrevocable trust, and has also given up any right to terminate the trust.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
If you’re an executor, personal representative, or administrator of an estate, your job begins at the death of the person whose estate you’re administering. The following list contains tasks you need to take care of in the first days and weeks after the decedent’s death. Determine the decedent’s wishes regarding arrangements such as funeral and burial.