Wilmington Trust’s Get Educated in Minutes

Why is talking about family wealth so important—and why does it feel so difficult? In this episode, Laura Russo, Senior Wealth and Fiduciary Planning Analyst at Wilmington Trust, explores why discussing family wealth is essential and highlights how open communication, a clearly defined family mission statement, a well‑communicated financial plan, and a thoughtful family governance structure can strengthen relationships, align values across generations, and protect your long‑term financial legacy. Gain insights into family wealth management, estate planning, philanthropy, and legacy planning to help normalize money conversations and build a lasting, values‑driven future.

Estate planning isn’t just about transferring assets—it’s about preserving your wealth and values for future generations. One powerful way to do this is through philanthropy. Giving back can teach financial literacy, instill gratitude, and create a shared sense of purpose within your family. In this episode, Alexa Broida, family legacy advisor for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, explores three practical strategies to use charitable giving as a tool for family education and unity, so your legacy can thrive for years to come.

For many individuals, the purchase of life insurance is designed to mitigate risks including replacing income in the event of a premature death, leaving a legacy for heirs, and providing a source of liquidity for the payment of estate taxes. For those focused on the last of those risks—providing a source of liquidity for estate taxes—it can be particularly beneficial to consider using an irrevocable life insurance trust to own their life insurance policies. Listen as Dolly Donnelly, director of Wealth Strategies for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, discusses what an irrevocable life insurance trust is and when you might consider using one.

Often, financial conversations focus on wealth accumulation. However, sustainability is also an important consideration at each stage of your financial life. It requires planning, discipline of following a budget, and the ability to adapt your plan as your life changes. In this episode, Laura Russo, senior wealth & fiduciary planning analyst for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, offers her insights on creating a financial plan that is built to last.

In general, the portion of a decedent’s estate value in excess of an exempt amount is taxed at a federal rate of 40%. When a decedent’s estate includes a significant and illiquid business asset, the administrator is often faced with making a decision on how to pay a very large tax bill within a very short window of time. It is important to know when a potential deferral of payment is applicable and the potential financing options for payment of the estate taxes. In this podcast, Lisa Ligas, national director of wealth strategies for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, offers her insights.

2025 is shaping up to be a critical year for tax planning. Many individuals took a wait and see approach to the potential expiration of some provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA). Now that we have a better understanding of the priorities of the current administration, it’s time to be proactive and help you  understand your options and prepare you for when the law does change at the end of the year. Listen as Alvina Lo, chief wealth strategist, shares her insights. 

Many individuals own vacation homes in addition to their primary residences. Frequently, these properties not only have significant economic value but also hold sentimental value. For this reason, incorporating them into an overall wealth and estate plan is critical. Select a plan that is appropriate for your situation. In today’s episode, Matthew Lee, director of Wealth Strategies for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory® helps answer the question, how can holding a vacation home in a limited liability company enhance an overall estate plan?

The passage of the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) provides some much desired clarity on how the tax landscape for individuals and businesses will look beginning on January 1, 2026. While we are continuing to unpack this new tax bill and its ramifications, Josh Landsman, senior wealth strategist for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, offers outlines key takeaways along with some planning considerations in the areas or personal income tax, business tax, and estate tax.

With historically high exemptions from federal estate and gift taxes, many families are turning to funding personal trusts to protect and preserve their family endowments for future generations. Unfortunately, beneficiaries receiving significant inheritances may not be sufficiently prepared to inherit family wealth. A personal trust can help families who want their heirs to receive more than financial benefits from their wealth. In this podcast, Jeff Wolken, national director of Delaware trust planning for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory,® offers his insights on how to prepare your family through the use of a beneficiary well-being trust, a new trust feature in the state of Delaware.  

There are several strategies to consider when looking to save on income taxes. One strategy involves lessening your amount of gross income, which comprises five methods, or pillars: deferral, exclusion, elimination, offsetting, and character of income. In this podcast, Tom Kelley, national director of income tax planning for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory,® offers his insights on how each of these pillars can help mitigate your tax burden.       

The start of a new year is the perfect opportunity to reflect and reassess. And, for many, it’s also about making resolutions for personal improvement. But don’t forget about your financial health. Ensuring your wealth plan is in order is one of the most impactful ways to set yourself up for financial success and peace of mind this year. Alvina Lo, chief wealth strategist for Wilmington  Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, offers her insights.

Are you thinking about creating a wealth plan for a commercial property? Real estate that is owned for business or investment purposes have certain inherent traits that create a somewhat unique planning scenario and, in some cases, jeopardize the success of your wealth plan. However, a freeze partnership could help.

The stage is set for this year’s presidential election. Regardless of who wins the election, reviewing the scheduled expiration of certain tax code provisions enacted as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will likely be an initial priority. What might this mean for the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption; the qualified business income deduction; and individual income tax rates? In this podcast, Josh Landsman, senior wealth strategist for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, offers his insights.

Estate planning can be complex, and many people want to do everything they can to ensure both their assets and their heirs are successful. One of the best ways to achieve this goal is to engage your entire family in the process. But when is the right time to bring the conversation up? Who should be involved? What should be shared? Listen as Alexa Broida, family legacy advisor for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory® shares four ways to engage your family in estate planning.

As many successful families have learned over time, having a family wealth education plan in place for family members can be very empowering for the next generation. And when heirs feel empowered and engaged in the family’s legacy, a smooth transfer of wealth can result. Listen as Allison Pierce, wealth strategist for Wilmington Trust Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, discusses how giving family members a foundational knowledge about wealth and sharing the family’s core values can help prepare heirs to receive wealth and carry on the family legacy.

Long-term financial planning considerations, family legacy concerns, income and estate tax ramifications, transaction structuring, community and workforce impact, legal documentation, along with the reality—and finality—of “letting go” typically make a business transition one of the most difficult things a business owner will ever do. Listen as Stuart Smith III, national director of Business Value Strategies for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, discusses how a business owner may successfully navigate the final stages of a business transition.

It often requires an intentional effort from parents to uncover and take advantage of moments during a child’s upbringing to incorporate financial discussions and lessons. Listen as Jerry Inglet, senior family legacy advisor for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, discusses how to leverage the preparation and decisions connected to choosing and paying for college for two purposes: helping to create an informed college pathway; and serving as a  financial education opportunity to discuss family values connected to money and resources.

For many entrepreneurs, selling a business is uncharted territory. Not surprisingly, engaging the right team of experienced advisors to assist in the transaction may elevate their chances of success. Listen as Stuart Smith, national director of Business Value Strategies for Wilmington Trust Emerald Family Office & Advisory,® discusses the value of hiring experienced advisors who have been to this “rodeo” before—and understand the specific nuances involved in a successful business sale.

Understanding state residency rules as an income tax planning strategy may be important for people who live in more than one state. But these rules can be complicated and tend to vary across states. Moreover, the state residency rules for trusts can be even more complex. In this podcast, Tom Kelley, national director of Income Tax Planning for Wilmington Trust Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, deciphers some of the tests states may use to determine residency for both individuals and trusts, and he offers insights on how to potentially navigate the complexities of these state-specific regulations.

There are good reasons a family may consider changing the terms of an irrevocable trust. For instance, maybe there has been a change in a beneficiary’s ability to manage family resources, or perhaps a new trustee was named. Fortunately, “irrevocable” does not necessarily mean set in stone. In this podcast, Jeff Wolken, national director of Delaware Trust Planning for Wilmington Trust Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, discusses several tools available under the law that may enable families to modify irrevocable trusts.

Discussing wealth and legacy plans with family can be challenging and somewhat uncomfortable, especially when family members disagree about the goals. However, having open communication about the family’s heartfelt values and aspirations can help sustain a desired legacy through future generations. In this podcast, Julie Weiss, national director of Family Office Experience for Wilmington Trust Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, discusses a few ways to establish an ongoing dialogue that can be critical to maintaining family harmony and—hopefully—a lasting legacy.

Business owners, tax planners, and anyone who works with business entities should understand the new obligations they will face next year under the Corporate Transparency Act—the most significant anti-money-laundering legislation since the Patriot Act in 2001. In this podcast, Kerry Reeves, director of Wealth Strategies for Wilmington Trust Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, offers a brief overview of the new filing requirements that millions of entities will need to adopt as of January 1, 2024, and the potential financial and criminal penalties associated with non-compliance.

When retirees pass away before using all the assets in their retirement plans, the remaining funds in those accounts typically pass to a named beneficiary. In certain instances, naming a trust as beneficiary of the plan may be the most prudent course of action, particularly if the retiree wants oversight of the funds for the benefit of a minor child or disabled beneficiary. In this podcast, Wealth Planning Team Leader Matthew Mancini of Wilmington Trust Emerald Family Office & Advisory® discusses why retirement plan owners may choose to name a trust as the beneficiary of their retirement plans and the regulatory considerations of making that decision.

Parents with multiple children often grapple with issues around fairness and equality when structuring their estate plans. With intentional thought and communication, and sometimes a third-party facilitator, parents can strive to achieve their wishes where intentions are understood and negative impacts for a family are reduced as inheritances are discussed and executed. In this podcast, Family Legacy Advisor Jerry Inglet of Wilmington Trust Emerald Family Office & Advisory® discusses what considerations can be used by parents to contemplate these inheritance choices.

There are many different vehicles for charitable giving that can help support your objectives and create a philanthropic legacy. Charitable giving is an important discussion to have with your advisors to determine whether your charitable giving is best done individually or through a trust, a private foundation, donor advised fund, or another entity. In this podcast, Director of Wealth Strategies Kerry Reeves discusses the differences between a donor advised fund and a private foundation and how to determine if either strategy would be optimal for your charitable giving.

The new SECURE Act 2.0, which passed into law last month, may have far reaching implications on retirement planning in the U.S. This “sequel” legislation builds upon many of the themes found in the prior Act, such as expanding access to retirement accounts in cases of hardship and moving the age when required minimum distributions begin. In this podcast, learn some of the more notable changes from SECURE Act 2.0 and their implications for high-net-worth individuals.

The location, or situs, of someone’s personal trust may have a significant impact on how the trust is taxed and the flexible laws available to facilitate ongoing administration. Changing a trust’s situs can be as easy as changing the trustees to a more favorable location. Listen as Jeffrey Wolken, national director of Delaware Trust Planning Strategies for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, discusses why the location of a trust, or its situs, is important, and how you can change a trust’s situs to possibly receive additional benefits.

For many individuals, the purchase of life insurance is designed to mitigate risks including replacing income in the event of a premature death, leaving a legacy for heirs, and providing a source of liquidity for the payment of estate taxes. For those focused on the last of those risks – providing a source of liquidity for estate taxes – it can be particularly beneficial to consider using an irrevocable life insurance trust to own their life insurance policies. Listen as Dolly Donnelly, director of Wealth Strategies for Wilmington Trust’s Emerald Family Office & Advisory®, discusses what an irrevocable life insurance trust is and when you might consider using one.