I'm a reporter for the news Web site, msnbc.com, owned by NBC News and Microsoft, and a longtime reader of this excellent group. I'm researching an article about the subject of 2010 being a good year to die, in tax terms. You've seen articles on this subject. (Such as the flurry that followed George Steinbrenner's death.)
In researching another story, I ran across this online posting by an attorney, referring to a conversation with a CPA, and it raises a couple of questions:
(1) Would this indeed have been good tax advice, and
(2) Have you heard of any person or family who took this advice, as
2009 rolled into 2010? If there's anyone who did pass the New Year on life support, because of the tax advantages, or who put language to this effect in a health care directive (whether or not it ended up becoming necessary), I'd like to talk with that person's CPA and family for this story.You can post here, of course, or contact me directly by e-mail at snipped-for-privacy@msnbc.com. My bio is at