Webinar Transcript (2/12/2026): Escape from New York: Tax & Estate Planning Considerations For Moving To Florida Or Israel
Host: Jonathan I. Shenkman, President & Chief Investment Officer of ParkBridge Wealth Management (Contact: jonathan@parkbridgewealth.com)
Panelists: Lawrence I. Garbuz, Esq. Partner, Lewis and Garbuz, P.C. (Contact: lawrence@lewisgarbuz.com) Boaz Feinberg, Partner, Arnon, Tadmor-Levy (Contact: boaz.f@arnontl.com)
Jonathan Shenkman: Good morning, and welcome to the Park Bridge Wealth Management Winter Webinar Series. This program is entitled, Escape from New York, Tax and Estate Planning Considerations for Moving to Florida or Israel. As always, my name is Jonathan Shankman, and I'm the President and Chief Investment Officer of Park Bridge Wealth Management. In that role, I serve in a fiduciary capacity to help my clients achieve their financial objectives.
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Jonathan Shenkman: The goal of my programs is to bring professionals together to help them better serve their clients, and this is done by educating attendees on the latest topics in wealth planning, and by encouraging collaboration between a client's attorney, CPA, and financial advisor where appropriate.
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Jonathan Shenkman: My practice focuses on working with high net worth families, businesses, and not-for-profits. I manage individual investment portfolios, trust accounts, corporate retirement plans, and endowments to help my clients achieve their financial goals. In addition to the 20 or so events I run every year, I also do a fair amount of writing on the topics of investing and financial planning, and you can read my work in a variety of periodicals, including Barron's, CNBC, Forbes, Kiplinger, The Wall Street Journal, and Trust and Estates magazine.
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Jonathan Shenkman: name just a few. You can see all my work on my website at parkbridgewealth.com forward slash articles, or by following me on social media at JonathanOnMoney. Additionally, you can check out my weekly podcast, which is also called Jonathan on Money.
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Jonathan Shenkman: And you can listen to that on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And also, I recently published my first book, D is for Diversification, The ABCs of Personal Finance, which can now be purchased on Amazon or jonathanMoney.com.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Before I introduce our panelists, please pay close attention if you're an attorney or CPA in Connecticut, New Jersey, or New York, and are taking this program for credit.
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Jonathan Shenkman: I'll be giving a code during the program that you'll need to write down. There will only be one code. It will be given at some point in the middle of the program, so have a pen and paper ready.
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Jonathan Shenkman: After the program, you'll receive an evaluation form, where you'll need to insert the code in order to receive credit. Please stick around until the end of the program for further instructions on receiving credit.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Okay, now let's jump into the program.
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Jonathan Shenkman: By way of background, especially for folks that don't pay attention to New York City politics, Zoram Ahmdani, the 34-year-old socialist and anti-Israel activist, won the New York City mayoral race and is currently serving as mayor of New York City. It was an interesting choice for a city that is the global center for capitalism, and home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.
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Jonathan Shenkman: The consequence of this election will be interesting, and to some, and perhaps it will be scary for others.
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Jonathan Shenkman: In fact, many of the New York City-based clients have contemplated about moving out of town with the two most popular locations being Florida or Israel. So, in this program, we're joined by two esteemed panelists who'll discuss the tax and estate planning implications of relocating to either Florida or Israel.
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Jonathan Shenkman: highlighting differences in income tax, estate, and other financial planning considerations. We'll be hearing from Boaz Feinberg, a partner at Arnold Todd Moore Levy, based in Tel Aviv, and Lawrence Garboos, a partner at Lewis & Garboos, who's licensed to practice law in both New York and Florida.
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Jonathan Shenkman: I have had both Boas and Lawrence on past programs. They're both incredibly knowledgeable in their respective areas, and I'm pleased to have them address some of the most timely and important questions on these topics. Please keep in mind, given the amount of ground I'd like to cover today, this program will be structured where I'll ask each panelist a number of questions.
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Jonathan Shenkman: and they will only spend a few minutes on each answer. Each question can be a webinar to itself, but given time constraints, the speakers have tailored the remarks to be concise, so participants have enough information to decide their next steps.
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Jonathan Shenkman: However, the answers won't be all-encompassing and won't include every conceivable detail. Therefore, if you do have follow-up questions, which I'm sure many of you will, please consider reaching out and retaining the services of either Boaz or Lawrence on any matter that requires a certain threshold of expertise. No one listening to this program today or watching the program later will become an expert from this one-hour-long session.
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Jonathan Shenkman: In order to keep things organized, I'll segment this program to two parts, where I'll spend the first half asking Boaz about Israel-related planning, and then I'll switch gears and spend the second half of the program speaking to Lawrence about Florida-related topics.
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Jonathan Shenkman: With those introductory remarks, let me start by discussing some Israel-related topics with Boaz. First, Boaz, can you give us a short description on the various tax rates in Israel?
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Boaz Feinberg: Sure. So, thank you for having me, Jonathan. It's always a pleasure to participate in your webinars, and discuss Israeli taxes, and now more than ever, as you said. And by the way, kudos for the title of this webinar. It's great. I've seen that movie, I don't know.
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Boaz Feinberg: 30 years ago, or whatnot. As the tax rates in Israel, basically, Israel is a residency-based tax system. You get taxed on your worldwide income if you're an Israeli resident, and you would get taxed on income that is derived in Israel if you're a foreign resident. The corporate tax in Israel is generally 23%,
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Boaz Feinberg: may be, lower, in certain, conditions, specifically high-tech. When it comes to individuals.
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Boaz Feinberg: Business income would be taxed at marginal tax rate, which would usually be between 10% on the lowest rate and up to 47% on the highest bracket.
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Boaz Feinberg: Capital gain tax and dividends would be usually taxed at 25%. If you're not a controlling shareholder, i.e, if you hold less than 10% in the company.
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Boaz Feinberg: Or if you sell real estate, of course, it would be 25%. If you are a controlling shareholder and you sell shares in that company, the capital gain or dividend distribution would be taxed at 30%.
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Boaz Feinberg: interest, tax, would usually range between 15% if it's linked to the Israeli shekel, if the loan is linked to the Israeli shekel, usually 25% on any other different loans, and if you are a controlling shareholder.
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Boaz Feinberg: and you receive interest payments from the company you're controlling, then you would be paying marginal tax rate. With regard to rental income, we may touch on that later, but in essence, it's marginal tax rate.
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Boaz Feinberg: And may be taxed at 10% gross income on residential passive rental income.
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Boaz Feinberg: In addition to all this, in Israel, there is a surtax, and since 2025, we have two different types of surtaxes. One is 3%,
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Boaz Feinberg: Which is a surtax that would be imposed, if you exceed a marginal tax rate of 720,000 shekels a year, which is approximately at the current exchange rate, dollar shekel.
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Boaz Feinberg: $235,000 annual taxable income. Anything exceeding that, you would owe an additional 3% from any type source of income.
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Boaz Feinberg: In addition to that, since 2025, you have a 2% surtax on any taxable income that is not derived from business.
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Boaz Feinberg: So that could be capital gain, dividends, interest, royalties, or rental income. All those, you would add an additional 2% if the total non-business income would exceed the $235,000. That's about it.
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Jonathan Shenkman: That's quite a bit. What is the 10-year tax holiday for new Aleem or new immigrants to Israel? Who is eligible for the holiday, and what kind of tax exemptions are new Aleem entitled to to receive on their Israeli-sourced income?
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Boaz Feinberg: So, the 10-year tax holiday came into place since 2008 in Israel, and it applies to new Israeli residents, Israeli residents for the first time, or like we like to call them, Ulim Chadashim.
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Boaz Feinberg: And also senior returning residents, those who have spent
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Boaz Feinberg: more than 10 consecutive years outside Israel as foreign residents. If they become Israeli residents, they both would enjoy a 10-year tax holiday. It used to be, until the beginning of this year, an exemption on both the taxes paid on foreign-sourced income.
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Boaz Feinberg: And also an exemption on reporting the income and the assets that are not in Israel. Since January 1st, 2026,
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Boaz Feinberg: Anyone who becomes a new Israeli resident would continue to enjoy the tenure tax all day, but would no longer enjoy the exemption on the reporting. What does that mean? It means that any type of income, even though it is exempt in Israel.
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Boaz Feinberg: would have to be reported under an annual tax return that has to be filed. Any person who becomes an Ole in 2026, he would have to file his first tax return in 2027. And this would include any type of income that was derived outside Israel.
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Boaz Feinberg: Whether it's in the United States or otherwise, and also on trusts. If a person is a settler of a trust or a beneficiary of a trust, he would now have to file tax returns relating to those trusts, even though they're not necessarily taxable in Israel during the 10 years.
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Boaz Feinberg: In addition to that, and this is something that may become law, depending on whether the government is able to pass it in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
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Boaz Feinberg: And they have until March 31st to do it. There is a proposed law to allow new immigrants or senior returning residents that became Israeli residents during 2026, and only during 2026,
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Boaz Feinberg: An additional exemption on Israeli-sourced income.
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Boaz Feinberg: And that is in addition to the foreign-sourced income. And they, under the law that they're… they're willing to pass, they would like to exempt a 5-year period
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Boaz Feinberg: on Israeli-sourced income, while the first two years would be on taxable income in Israel that is derived from business income, or from services that are provided by the new immigrant.
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Boaz Feinberg: That does not exceed 1 million shekels.
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Boaz Feinberg: per year. And then, gradually going lower to 600,000 shekels, 300,000 taxable income in the fourth year, and
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Boaz Feinberg: In the fifth year of the Aliyah, 150,000 shekel taxable income in Israel that would be exempt from payment of taxes, and again, in addition to the 10-year tax all day.
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Boaz Feinberg: This is something that may be applicable only if the law passes. It is part of the general law that the government is now trying to pass. They have until March 31st. Let's see if they're successful.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Does Israel have an estate or gift tax?
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Boaz Feinberg: So, nope, Israel does not, since 1981, Israel does not impose an estate or gift tax or inheritance tax of any kind.
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Boaz Feinberg: On one hand, that's terrific. If a person passes away, his inheritors do not owe taxes in Israel. Not all of the work for planning for us tax advisors, but
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Boaz Feinberg: at the end of the day, it's better off not having it. There is a caveat, though. There is one thing that may become an issue, because there is no step-up in basis
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Boaz Feinberg: on date of death. So, of course, if there is no inheritance or gift tax, that the… on one hand, there is no taxes upon death or upon the gift.
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Boaz Feinberg: But there's also no step-up in basis, and that means that the person receiving the inheritance or the gift, when he sells the asset one day.
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Boaz Feinberg: the Israeli tax authorities would want to tax the entire spread between the original purchase date and price to the sales price. That could be very problematic, specifically in situations
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Boaz Feinberg: Where a person made Aliyah, and what usually happens, he has a family in Israel and children, and then his parents want to join him and be close to the grandchildren, and it's always something that I have seen many times happening.
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Boaz Feinberg: That you need to take into consideration. Once the parent made Aliyah.
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Boaz Feinberg: he enjoys a 10-year tax holiday, which is a personal tax benefit for him. But if he… when he passes away, and he is an Israeli resident, if… when he passes away.
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Boaz Feinberg: his inheritor.
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Boaz Feinberg: the child who made Aliyah before him, it now receives an asset that the entire spread would be taxed in Israel, including whatever capital gain that derived while the parent was not in Israel. So you need to pay close attention to that. There are ways to mitigate that, and we've assisted our clients many times in that situation.
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Boaz Feinberg: But you need to look into this. No step-up in basis, that is the downside of not having a state or gift tax in Israel.
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Jonathan Shenkman: What are the current tax rates on the purchase of real property in Israel for residential and commercial purposes, and what happens if someone were to rent out property in Israel?
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Boaz Feinberg: So, Israel imposes a purchase tax, or a transfer tax, when you purchase real estate in Israel. This is only applicable to real estate in Israel. And there is a division between,
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Boaz Feinberg: commercial or vacant land to residential property. If you purchase a residential property, and it is your first residential property.
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Boaz Feinberg: Then, you would pay transfer tax with brackets that begin at 0% up to 1.9 million shekels, approximately $650,000 at today's rate.
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Boaz Feinberg: And anything about that, the brackets go higher, 3.5%, 5%, 8%, and anything exceeding $6.5 million.
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Boaz Feinberg: would owe 10% of transfer tax. That is if this is your first apartment that you purchased. And it is also very important to note, you must be an Israeli resident in order to enjoy
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Boaz Feinberg: the first-time transfer tax reduction. If you're not an Israeli resident, or this is not your first residential, then the brackets are extremely higher.
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Boaz Feinberg: It starts at 8% on the… from 0 to 6 million shekels, and anything exceeding 6 million shekels, approximately $2 million, would owe 10% of transfer tax.
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Boaz Feinberg: All that being said.
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Boaz Feinberg: If you are a new immigrant, and specifically a new immigrant, this will not apply to senior returning residents, but only to those who, move to Israel and get a… to Datole.
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Boaz Feinberg: Okay? Those would enjoy a special exemption, in which, on residential, in which you would pay 0% up to 1.9 million shekels.
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Boaz Feinberg: Between that and 6 million shekels, 0.5%?
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Boaz Feinberg: And then only anything above 6 million shekels, you would pay the 8% transfer tax, and anything about above 20 million shekels, you would also pay the 10%. So, this is very good for those who are expecting to become Israeli olim.
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Boaz Feinberg: And also, would want to purchase a house in the vicinity of up to $2 million, that would be a very nice discount on their transfer tax. One thing that is very important to note in that respect.
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Boaz Feinberg: You can… purchase the house, meaning sign the purchase agreement, while you're still living outside Israel?
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Boaz Feinberg: And, the laws changed recently. You had one year since you signed the agreement to move to Israel and become an Israeli resident in order to enjoy the discounted transfer tax rate.
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Boaz Feinberg: However, the laws changed a year ago, and now, if you purchase on paper from a contractor.
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Boaz Feinberg: a house, a residential property, you would have an additional 3 years for the contractor to complete building the asset before you move to Israel, provided that you became an ole. You got a certificate or a NOLE visa.
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Boaz Feinberg: during the first year since the assigning of the purchase agreement. So this is very, needs to be very carefully planned, and of course, we're very happy to assist those who are planning to do so.
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Boaz Feinberg: But it means that you have now more time. You don't need to immediately move to Israel in order to enjoy the discounted rate of William Khadoshim.
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Boaz Feinberg: The other change in law that was in connection to this, before the change in law, you would enjoy the reduction on the purchase tax for Olim only if you used the apartment for your own personal dwelling purposes.
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Boaz Feinberg: That has changed under the current law, and now you can purchase a house in Israel, enjoy the reduced
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Boaz Feinberg: transfer tax rate.
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Boaz Feinberg: And you don't necessarily have to live in that house. You can live in a different house, you can rent out a different apartment, but you would still enjoy the transfer tax reduction. As to rental, we touched on it a bit before. It's basically marginal tax rate if you rent out an apartment.
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Boaz Feinberg: However, if it's a residential apartment and it's passive income, then you may enjoy a special rule that allows you to pay only 10%,
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Boaz Feinberg: on the gross income of the rental. This is applicable, unlike the reduced transfer tax on first apartment in Aleim, when it comes to rental, under the current law, this is also applicable to people who do not live in Israel, and they have a house
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Boaz Feinberg: a residential property in Israel, and they may enjoy the same tax rate of 10% gross, provided it's passive.
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Boaz Feinberg: The Israeli tax rules, the tax authority's position is that, if you own less than 10 apartments in Israel.
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Boaz Feinberg: it would probably be considered passive income. If you own more than 10 apartments, and you rent them out, there is a risk it would be considered business income, and then you would pay marginal tax rate.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Now, this is a very popular question that comes up a lot, at least in my practice. What if I decide to split my time between Israel and the U.S? How would Israel tax their income?
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Boaz Feinberg: So, that would depend, of course, on where do you want to be taxed, and whether or not you want to be considered an Israeli resident. So, for example, if you want to be considered an Israeli resident because of the reduced transfer tax, then I would recommend you become an Israeli resident.
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Boaz Feinberg: And if you still spend time outside Israel, Then, under the,
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Boaz Feinberg: the instructions of the tax authorities, you may enjoy the reduced or the exemption on your business income during your first 10 years on the work that you perform outside Israel. So you're an Israeli resident.
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Boaz Feinberg: time you spend outside Israel would be considered or attributable to your business income as not being taxed in Israel during the 10 years, and you would only pay taxes on the time you spend here in Israel.
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Boaz Feinberg: That also may be, disputed or rearranged by the taxpayer if he can demonstrate that the real value of his work is actually performed outside Israel, not in Israel. And that is something that we deal a lot with.
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Boaz Feinberg: For example, if you're a physician, and you're a surgeon, and you need to be physically in the United States to perform surgeries, and you do work in Israel, you,
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Boaz Feinberg: all sorts of things that you do in Israel while you're a physician, research and whatnot. You may spend more time in Israel than in the United States, but it's no question your value
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Boaz Feinberg: for producing your income is mostly in the United States, so that's something that we can assist with. If you do not want to become an Israeli resident.
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Boaz Feinberg: Then we would prefer, or you would prefer, spending less than 180 days
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Boaz Feinberg: in Israel during a tax year, and then it is possible that the double taxation treaty between Israel and the United States may provide amnesty
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Boaz Feinberg: from paying any taxes in Israel, even though you spend time in Israel. So this is a question which is a bit complicated. You need to be considered a resident of the United States under the double taxation treaty provisions.
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Boaz Feinberg: and spend less than 180 days in Israel, in that situation, you may enjoy the possibility of spending time in Israel.
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Boaz Feinberg: not paying taxes in Israel, and only paying taxes in the United States. Again, this calls for very close planning.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Next one is popular for a lot of the retirees I work with, which is, if someone has an IRA, how would that be taxed in Israel?
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Boaz Feinberg: So, IRAs, that would mostly depend on the type of IRA, whether this is an IRA that is yours personally, and this is money that was accumulated during your work in the United States, and an IRA that was inherited, which is something that happens a lot.
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Boaz Feinberg: Yeah, IRAs may be inherited in the United States.
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Boaz Feinberg: And the special treatment in Israel regarding taxation of IRAs is only applicable if the IRAs
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Boaz Feinberg: are from work that you personally performed while you were in the United States. And the special treatment is that any new immigrant, a first-time Israeli resident, or a senior returning resident
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Boaz Feinberg: would basically not pay taxes in Israel that exceed the taxes you pay in the United States
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Boaz Feinberg: on the proceeds from the IRA. And that practically means that you do not pay taxes in Israel on the IRA. There is, or maybe an issue relating to the question, who has the first right to tax the proceeds from an IRA if it's a person who is living in Israel?
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Boaz Feinberg: We have our own position on this, but other than that, practically, you are not supposed to pay more taxes on your IRAs if they're, again, if they're from your work.
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Boaz Feinberg: No more, at least, than the taxes you pay in the United States.
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Boaz Feinberg: It's very important to note
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Boaz Feinberg: that this special treatment exceeds the 10-year tax exemption, meaning this would, be until date of death. It exceeds the 10-year tax.
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Boaz Feinberg: exemption, and you may continue on to enjoy the same provision for your life duration in Israel.
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Jonathan Shenkman: And what about trusts? I understand that the tax regime on trust in Israel is pretty complicated. Can you discuss that a little bit?
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Boaz Feinberg: So complicated is an understatement, and as you said at the beginning of the webinar, that each issue can have its own webinar. Trust in Israel, taxation of trust in Israel, should have at least 5 different webinars.
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Boaz Feinberg: The problem with fixation of trust, it's a fairly new concept in Israel. As we know, no estate or gift tax. The usage of trust in Israel is not as profound as in the United States.
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Boaz Feinberg: Usually Israelis use a simple will for succession, and asset protection is not something that Israelis use a lot.
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Boaz Feinberg: But trusts are becoming more and more of an issue, especially for a young generation of high net worth individuals.
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Boaz Feinberg: Who need to plan a little bit more sophisticated than regular, wills.
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Boaz Feinberg: And therefore, there is now in place elaborate rules relating to the taxation of trusts. And while we are discussing international families, taxation of trusts become very, very complicated. You have different types of classes, which depend on the
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Boaz Feinberg: Residency of the settler, of the creator of the trust.
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Boaz Feinberg: May be, based on the residency of the beneficiary of the trust, may be based on the question whether or not the creator of the trust has passed away or not.
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Boaz Feinberg: So all these are questions that must be addressed
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Boaz Feinberg: when you have a trust, and you have a nexus to Israel, meaning if you have a creator moving to Israel, or a beneficiary moving to Israel, or if you have a beneficiary or a potential beneficiary in Israel, and you want to have a trust
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Boaz Feinberg: for his benefit, and he is an Israeli.
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Boaz Feinberg: All those would require very, very careful planning.
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Boaz Feinberg: The type of classification would affect the taxation of the trust, whether or not, you file tax returns for the trust, whether or not the beneficiary files tax returns or not.
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Boaz Feinberg: individually. So, all these, of course, are very important questions, and I would urge anyone who is planning either, to move to Israel, or any of his family members moving to Israel, and there are trusts in place, and believe me, there are usually trusts in place.
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Boaz Feinberg: Even the simple living trust can be an issue once there is a nexus to Israel. And so, I would…
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Boaz Feinberg: I would recommend carefully planning before creating such trust, or if there is a trust in place, carefully plan when there is a move of a family member, to Israel.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Great. Thank you, Boaz, for that extremely informative overview. Before continuing, I'd like to interject here briefly with the code for accountants and attorneys who are taking this program for credit. Please write this down. The code is B31, again, B as in banana.
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Jonathan Shenkman: the number 3, and the number 1. One final time, B, 3… 1…
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Jonathan Shenkman: Okay, now let's turn to Lawrence to discuss some of the planning related to moving to Florida.
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Jonathan Shenkman: First question, just make sure you're off mute to make sure everyone can hear you.
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Jonathan Shenkman: And…
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Jonathan Shenkman: Okay, first question. May someone who is an attorney, but not admitted to the Florida Bar, continue to represent clients who have moved to Florida and no longer have any nexus to New York?
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Lawrence Garbuz: Thank you, Jonathan, for putting this program together, which I hope will be informative for all the participants and their clients. The reality is that many of our clients are moving out of New York, whether for warmer weather, lifestyle changes, high taxes, or because of political const…
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Lawrence Garbuz: considerations. We as practitioners have an ethical duty to keep our clients,
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Lawrence Garbuz: And to give proper guidance to our clients, no matter where they reside. I know that your time is valuable, so let's jump in and address some Florida issues.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Jonathan, the short answer is generally no, at least not in the way that most practitioners instinctively assume.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Once a client has fully relocated to Florida and severed meaningful New York nexus, continued representation by a New York-only licensed attorney becomes legally constrained, ethically risky, and potentially sanctionable.
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Lawrence Garbuz: A less carefully structured.
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Lawrence Garbuz: This is fundamentally a multi-jurisdictional practice, MJP, an unauthorized practice of law, UPL problem.
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Lawrence Garbuz: The governing and legal framework. There are two overlapping regimes that control. One, Florida unauthorized practice of law, the UPL doctrine.
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Lawrence Garbuz: And two, the ABA Model Rules 5.5, which is adopted in substance by both New York State and Florida.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida is among the most aggressive UPL enforcement jurisdiction in the country.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But the core rule in Florida is where the client is, it matters more than where the lawyer is.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida applies a client-centered and matter-centered analysis, not a lawyer location test. If the client is domiciled in Florida, and the legal matter is governed by Florida law or Florida legal rights, then legal service is rendered without a Florida Bar admission risk.
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Lawrence Garbuz: This holds even if the lawyer is physically located in New York.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida aggressively seeks to enforce UPL violations. The Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Bar
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Lawrence Garbuz: actively prosecutes UPL violations, regularly obtains injunctions, civil penalties, and referrals for criminal prosecution. Florida is far more aggressive than New York in policing cross-border practice.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now… what can a non-Florida attorney, or better said, what can't a non-Florida attorney, do?
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Lawrence Garbuz: Well, once the client is Florida domiciled and New York nexus is gone, the New York law cannot generally draft
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida State Planning Documents, including Florida wills, revocable trusts, and advanced directives. These are Florida law-governed instruments requiring… regarding… requiring Florida legal competence.
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Lawrence Garbuz: A non-Florida attorney cannot advise on Florida probate or trust administration, including formal probate, homestead determinations, elective share, or creditor claim procedures. These are all Florida statutory machines.
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Lawrence Garbuz: And a non-Florida attorney, cannot provide Florida domicile or residency planning advice as to homestead qualification, asset protection, creditor protection, and title, issues, or strategies. These are core Florida legal services.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But what can a non-Florida attorney still do?
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Lawrence Garbuz: Well, a New York licensed attorney may continue to represent a Florida-based client only for matters that retain a legitimate New York nexus, such as New York Trust, probate estates, real estate, New York-based litigation, business law, and tax matters.
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Lawrence Garbuz: If you have a New York Citas Trust.
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Lawrence Garbuz: And if the beneficiaries reside in Florida, that will not violate the, UPL, rules.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But there are ethical risks that we have in terms of providing representation without Florida Council.
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Lawrence Garbuz: If you're not a Florida attorney, you risk Florida UPL prosecution.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Discipline action in New York, there's a reciprocal discipline.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Fee disgorgement, malpractice, loss of privilege claims, and invalidation of documents. Let's bottom line it.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Once a client becomes a Florida domicile and servers New York nexus, a New York attorney,
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Lawrence Garbuz: A New York-only attorney cannot continue full representation and must either transition to co-counsel or restrict the practice strictly to New York and federal matters. Failure to restructure the representation creates a material UPL and malpractice.
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Lawrence Garbuz: And malpractice risk.
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Jonathan Shenkman: From a domicile perspective, what are the primary legal factors that distinguish New York from Florida, and what are the most common pitfalls clients face when attempting to establish Florida residency?
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Lawrence Garbuz: Well, let's talk about the core legal differences between New York and Florida Domicile.
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Lawrence Garbuz: We all know that New York has a progressive income tax, and if you reside in New York City, you also pay income tax.
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Lawrence Garbuz: New York, the top estate tax rate is 16%, and gifts that are made within 3 years of passing are added back into the taxable estate.
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Lawrence Garbuz: New York is, among the most aggressive states in auditing domicile changes, and it uses a fact-intensive, multi-factor analysis to challenge claimed departures. The burden of proof.
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Lawrence Garbuz: is on the taxpayer to establish abandonment of New York domicile and the acquisition of a new one.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida, as many of us know, has no state income tax, there's no estate tax, there's no gift tax, and there's no formal statutory domicile tax for tax purposes. Florida relies more on an objective acts of intent rather than a forensic lifestyle reconstruction.
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Lawrence Garbuz: This creates a high-risk exit, low-friction entry dynamic. New York aggressively challenges exits, while Florida generally does not challenge arrivals.
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Lawrence Garbuz: No.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Both states follow the common law principle. The domicile is physical presence plus intent to remain permanently, or indefinitely.
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Lawrence Garbuz: However, New York applies this standard far more aggressively, requiring strong documentary and behavioral evidence.
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Lawrence Garbuz: New York's audit framework focuses heavily on intent, lifestyle continuity, economic nexus, and personal and social connections.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida focuses more on formal acts of residency and legal declarations.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, the statutory residency trap for New York is even if domicile has changed, New York can still text someone as a statutory resident if that person maintains a permanent place of a boat in New York and spends more than 183 days in New York during any calendar year.
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Lawrence Garbuz: This is one of the largest traps in a high net worth domicile planning, because maintaining even a lightly used New York residence can trigger full New York taxation, and date count errors routinely destroy otherwise valid domicile changes.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida has no statutory residency rule of this time.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Of this type.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, homestead and asset protection law. Florida, as many of us know, have an extremely strong homestead protection, which provides unlimited value protection from most creditors, and that's enshrined in the Florida Constitution. It also has favorable asset protection laws.
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Lawrence Garbuz: New York, on the other hand, has far more limited predator protection and homestead limitation, and this causes clients to overemphasize real estate purchases in Florida while underweighing the behavioral and evidentiary components of domicile.
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Lawrence Garbuz: So what are the best practices for establishing Florida Domicile?
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Lawrence Garbuz: Well, sell or long-term lease your New York residence, purchase a homestead-designated Florida residence, and spend well over 183 days in Florida.
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Lawrence Garbuz: you should consider moving doctors, and, and also change your religious, social, and civic life. We want to think lifestyle relocation, not tax relocation.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Great. The next question is, in terms of an audit enforcement considerations, clients should be aware of, particularly New York's scrutiny of residency change and statutory residency rules. What are those audit enforcement considerations that clients should be aware of?
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Lawrence Garbuz: New York residency audits are among the most aggressive, data-driven, and adversarial in the country.
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Lawrence Garbuz: For clients attempting to change domicile.
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Lawrence Garbuz: or to avoid statutory residency, the practical reality is that every meaningful aspect of life becomes discoverable evidence. Understanding how New York audits work, and where clients most often fail.
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Lawrence Garbuz: is critical. Now, New York's audit philosophy and enforcement posture
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Lawrence Garbuz: New York approaches residency audits with three operating assumptions. First, high-income taxpayers are likely attempting to skirt domicile rules. Two, residency is provable through forensic reconstruction. And three, inconsistencies are dispositive.
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Lawrence Garbuz: This results in a prosecutorial-style audit, not a routine compliance review.
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Lawrence Garbuz: And, for New York Residency Audit, they frequently last between 18 to 30 months… 36 months. They involve multiple rounds of document subpoenas, can span multiple tax years, and often do simultaneously, and often escalates into formal litigation.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, there are two independent tests, and why do clients get, trapped? Well, New York taxes individual as residents if either test is satisfied, the domicile test or the statutory residency test. Clients often defeat one, but inadvertently trigger the other.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, the burden of proof is always on the taxpayer, and it's the taxpayer that bears the burden to prove abandonment of New York domicile and establishment of a new domicile elsewhere.
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Lawrence Garbuz: New York does not have to prove continued domicile. It merely attacks the sufficiency of the taxpayer's evidence.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, New York applies a five-factor test, with heavy emphasis on qualitative evidence.
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Lawrence Garbuz: One, home. The size, value, and usage pattern of any residences. Two, active business involvement. Is the practice or the business here in New York, which you're claiming domicile is in Florida?
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Lawrence Garbuz: 3 is time, date count, and usage intensity. Four, items that are near and dear.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Where personal property of sentimental value is kept. Audit questions may be, where do you keep the wedding album? Where are the family heirlooms? And five, family connections. Where does the spouse reside? Where do minor children reside? Where do they go to school?
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Lawrence Garbuz: New York auditors reconstruct your life by using daily calendars, travel logs, easy pass records, and cell phone relocation data.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, in terms of the 183 rule, it is brutally strict, and that is, any part of a single day is deemed to be a full day, and it's a midnight to midnight standard.
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Lawrence Garbuz: So, if you land at JFK Airport at 11.50 PM, that is deemed to be a full day.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Similarly, if you depart LaGuardia at 12.10 a.m, you also are credited with having a full day.
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Lawrence Garbuz: And the common traps are business lunches, some medical appointments, and airport transfers.
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Jonathan Shenkman: That's wild. 10 minutes is a full day, but…
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Jonathan Shenkman: I don't set the rules. What differences in estate planning documents, like wills, revocable trusts, power of attorney, healthcare directives, etc, should be addressed when a client changes domicile from New York to Florida?
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Lawrence Garbuz: Well, let's talk about some of the foundational legal differences between New York and Florida, and which governing law and conflict of principles that would apply.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Which state law governs? Real property, tangible personal property, and intangible assets. Also, keep in mind that Florida has public policy exceptions. You also need to be aware of ancillary probate risks for any New York City's property.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, the probate systems between New York and Florida, let's compare them. New York has surrogate's court, which has jurisdiction over the affairs of a decedent, and Florida has a probate court.
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Lawrence Garbuz: There are procedural complexity, timelines, and costs that are associated with Florida probate courts, and they are strictly construed. Florida has summary administration versus formal administration.
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Lawrence Garbuz: And Florida credit claim periods and publication requirements exist that are not necessarily in Florida.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But let's deal with the key will differences, in New York versus Florida.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Regarding wills, a few items to keep in mind, New York execution formalities. One, requires two witnesses, an attestation clause, and a self-proving affidavit, which is optional, but most practitioners use one. But importantly, New York, permits no contest clauses.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But Florida rules are different. There, for execution formalities, there's two witnesses, notarization for self-proving.
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Lawrence Garbuz: There's a presence requirement, and also keep in mind that there are no contest clauses, or no contest clauses aren't enforceable, and the tax apportionment rules are different in Florida versus in New York.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida will recognize Florida wills, but there are risks in reliance solely on a New York will in Florida. For practical reasons, we recommend clients to re-execute their last wills so that under Florida law.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Also, keep in mind a few things. Homestead restrictions, as I say before, it's constitutionally protected. Elective share is different. Florida's elective share is 30%.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But the 30% is calculated differently, as opposed to the one-third share we have in New York.
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Lawrence Garbuz: There are, issues regarding spouses and children and their rights or entitlement, and as I think we'll mention in a little bit, there's issues regarding eligibility of non-residents serving as a personal representative in Florida.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Regarding, living trusts, revocable trusts, Florida will recognize New York Trust. Full faith and credit will apply.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But also keep in mind that there's Dynasty Trust possibilities in Florida and Asset Protection Trust that simply don't exist in New York.
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Lawrence Garbuz: I want to talk about the New York Power of Attorney. The formality is under the General Obligations law, and we all know about the pre-printed form and the riders that we attach.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But under Florida, the power of attorney, we have strict statutory compliance, there's mandatory signing and witnesses rule, and there's limitations on springing powers of attorney. Generally, Florida will not accept a springing power of attorney.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Regarding healthcare proxies, New York, we call them healthcare proxies. Florida, we call them designation of healthcare surrogate. There's terminology differences, and statutory authority is, of course, the same.
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Lawrence Garbuz: HIPAA is governed under federal law, but we generally include our HIPAA language, both the healthcare proxy, and we include it in the designation of healthcare surrogate.
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Jonathan Shenkman: If my clients are snowbirds and do not want to change their domicile, what planning considerations should I be aware of?
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Lawrence Garbuz: Well, when a client changes domicile from New York to Florida, the estate planning documents should not simply be ported from New York to Florida.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida and New York differ materially in probate law, spousal rights, creditor protection, as I just mentioned, homestead treatment, tax apportionment, fiduciary powers, and healthcare decision making.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Failure to update documents can produce unintended tax results, litigation exposure, and outright invalidation of planning objectives.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, New York to Florida, domicile, shift triggers four major planning realignments. Homestead planning.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Many clients are aware of homestead issues, but they don't take into account homestead planning, spousal life share restructuring, predator protection optimization, and fiduciary authority and statutory compliance.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, as it relates to, Florida homestead restrictions, Florida homestead property is constitutionally protected and restricted.
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Lawrence Garbuz: If the decedent is survived by a spouse or minor child, the homestead cannot freely be devised. The default would be the spouse receives a life estate remainder to descendants. This alone will… will… requires a will redesign
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Lawrence Garbuz: That may not necessarily apply under New York law.
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Lawrence Garbuz: I also want you to sort of take into account, in terms of the elective share, it's dramatically broader, pulling in revocable trusts, joint accounts, TOD, POD designations, and many lifetime transfers.
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Lawrence Garbuz: the, tax apportionment clauses, the New York default is that estate taxes are apportioned rateably amongst the beneficiaries, and Florida has different statutory apportionment rules.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Last question, for this section is, what should practitioners consider when serving as an executor or personal representative for Florida State Planning Documents? And is there a difference if the practitioner is nominated under a last will or in a trust?
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Lawrence Garbuz: Sure. So, Florida has, restrictions in terms of who can actually, serve as an executor. In Florida, they're called personal representatives, or, or as a trustee. And the analysis is materially different, New York versus Florida.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida imposes a unique statutory qualification, bonding rules, compensation structures, court supervision, and fiduciary liability. But let's get into it.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida is restrictive in who may serve as a personal representative.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida Code Section 733.304. A person may serve only if they are, one, a Florida resident.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Two, a spouse, sibling, parent, or certain close residence, even if they are a non-resident. Or three, a bank or trust company authorized to conduct business in Florida.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Most attorneys, accountants, and advisors who are not Florida residents and not relatives are legally disqualified from serving as an executor. This is one of the most frequently overlooked structural errors in Florida estate planning.
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Lawrence Garbuz: And there are consequences to this.
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Lawrence Garbuz: The consequence is that the nomination fails.
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Lawrence Garbuz: The court will appoint a substitute fiduciary, which is not what the client necessarily would want. The planning intent is defeated, and litigation requests only increase.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, the Florida, trust rules are far more permissive for trustees. There are no residency requirements, and non-resident individuals and corporate trustees may serve.
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Lawrence Garbuz: So the practical result of this is that practitioners who cannot serve as a personal representative, that is, an executor, often can serve as a trustee, which drives a trust-centric Florida estate planning, as opposed to a last will.
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Lawrence Garbuz: centric Florida estate planning.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But I want to discuss wills versus trust.
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Lawrence Garbuz: As mentioned, in a will, there is strict res- residency restrictions, but with a trust, there is none.
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Lawrence Garbuz: With all wills, there's court… close court supervision. With wills, as we know, there's generally none.
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Lawrence Garbuz: The bonding requirements are often, and with a trust there is, typically none. And same issue as we have in New York, there's public disclosure when there's a will, not necessarily so with a trust.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But more importantly, is the issue of timeline. With the timeline, it's generally slower with probate, as we're familiar here in New York, but it's significantly faster in Florida with the administration of the trust.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Professional fiduciaries, attorneys, and accountants almost always prefer trustee roles over serving as an executor in Florida.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Now, the bonding requirements creates a major risk and cost factor. Florida courts will frequently require a full fiduciary bond, often equal to 100% of the probate estate value, unless waived in the will.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Waived by beneficiaries, or waived by the court.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Trustee bonds are rarely required, typically waived… are typically waived in trust instruments, and much easier to eliminate by drafting.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida also has strict fiduciary standards, and that includes expanded disclosure duties, statutory notice that we don't have in New York, formal accounting obligations, and aggressive surcharge enforcement.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida beneficiaries may litigate more frequently, than in New York.
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Lawrence Garbuz: The common surcharges may trigger, including in… for including investment underperformance, delay in distributions, failure to diversify, improper handling, homestead issues, and elective share miscalculations.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Serving as an executor in Florida, you're automatically submit to the Florida court jurisdiction, Florida Discovery Rules, and the Florida Professional Malpractice Standard.
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Lawrence Garbuz: This dramatically expands personal litigation exposure in Florida that may be different than in New York.
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Lawrence Garbuz: So what are the best practices?
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Lawrence Garbuz: For clients, desiring practitioner fiduciaries, it is a revocable trust-centric estate plan.
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Lawrence Garbuz: create the revocable trust, and use a pour-over will in the same way that we would in New York. The pour-over will should govern minimal probate assets, if any, and that will permit most of the estate to be governed under the terms of a revocable trust.
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Lawrence Garbuz: This results in the practitioner serving as a trustee, and the executor, the personal representative role, is minimized or entirely eliminated.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Florida, the bottom line is Florida is one of the least practitioner-friendly states in which to serve as a personal representative, but it is one of the most favorable states in which to serve as a trustee.
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Lawrence Garbuz: So, generally speaking, avoid serving as an executor, and structure things, as a trustee instead.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Great. Thank you so much, Lawrence, for that very informative overview. I'd like to, bring Boas back, if he's still here, and really open up the floor to both you, because we do have about 4 minutes left.
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Jonathan Shenkman: And we covered so much material today. Is there, a few… any ideas that, one, you'd like to expound upon, or something you'd like to leave with our listeners and viewers today, just to highlight anything that they should go home with? Any points you want to kind of bring home or leave people with today? I will leave it to Boaz first, and then we could go to Lawrence, and then I'll wrap it up.
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Boaz Feinberg: Sure. So, I'll say the following. I… my work usually, we can divide it into three separate sections. One is the planning, right? A person comes to me before he, does anything.
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Boaz Feinberg: The second is that the person already has done something, came to me with an existing trust, for example, or came to me after a family member has already moved to Israel. That is not as good as coming to me for planning before you do
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Boaz Feinberg: anything related to Israel.
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Boaz Feinberg: It is something that we do a lot. We try to find ways, if there are things that have already been done that, needs to be rectified, then we try and do that. It's not always easy. If you have an irrevocable trust.
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Boaz Feinberg: not always a good solution, other than maybe winding up the trust. It may cause a lot of problems in the United States.
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Boaz Feinberg: And the third segment, of course, is that, we are in a problem, and now we need to fight with the tax authorities. And that, of course, would be the worst case scenario. So I urge everyone.
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Boaz Feinberg: Again, anyone who either plans… a family member plans to move.
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Boaz Feinberg: or anyone who's planning to invest in Israel, purchase real estate, residential property, anyone who, has already someone in Israel
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Boaz Feinberg: and has a trust in place, or is planning to have a trust in place, I urge you to consult with an Israeli tax expert to get a sense of what are the potholes that you need to avoid. It would make your life much more easier and much less expensive.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Great, thank you, Boz, and I don't want to leave Lawrence out. Is there any, cover so much material, is there anything you'd like to leave the audience with today before we wrap up?
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Lawrence Garbuz: Yeah, sure. We've worked decades with clients, and we've become close with family members, maybe we've done planning for the family, and now all of a sudden, they indicate they want to retire to Florida, and it's hard to see them go.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But to do right by them is to understand the limitations of what a New York attorney can do.
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Lawrence Garbuz: And based upon the long-standing relationship, it's important, as practitioners, to tell them, look, you really need to have Florida planning. Now's the time to do it.
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Lawrence Garbuz: You can continue to play a role as it relates to that planning.
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Lawrence Garbuz: But seek Florida Council. It's important that you look at your plan as a whole, and as it relates to Florida.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Many people think that Florida is just an extension of New York. It's not. It has its unique rules, obligations, and standards that are sometimes very different from New York.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Practitioners need to be aware of those roles.
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Lawrence Garbuz: Improperly advising their clients.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Great. And thank you so much again to both Boaz and Lawrence. And if anyone has any specific questions, new business opportunities, any other issues they'd like to discuss, feel free to reach out to Lawrence, Boas, or myself, where appropriate, and I'll be sure to include their contact information in the follow-up email to this program.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Four more quick items before I let you go today. The first and most important is that later today you'll receive an email from me with an evaluation form for the program. We'll ask you to input the code that I mentioned here today in order to receive your credit.
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Jonathan Shenkman: After that is submitted, in the coming days, you'll receive an email from ACE Seminars with your certificate. Again, please keep an eye out for an email from ACE Seminars. If you don't see that email in the next few days, be sure to check your spam folder. Again, the email with your certificate will not be from me.
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Jonathan Shenkman: It will be from ACE seminars. Second, my next webinar is on Thursday, February 26th, on how to shift CRT benefits to children under today's tax rules.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Featuring Evan Unzelman, who's the CEO of CRT Experts LLC, based in Leesburg, Virginia. I'll be sure to send out the invitation to this program in the coming days. In the meantime, if you have a friend or colleague who'd find these webinars of interest, they can subscribe to my webinar distribution list.
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Jonathan Shenkman: by emailing me with the word webinar in the subject line, and my email is jonathan at parkbridge.
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Jonathan Shenkman: Wealth.com. Third, you can follow all my work on X and Instagram at Jonathan On Money, and by connecting with me on LinkedIn, where I post most of my content. You could also listen to my weekly podcast called Jonathan on Money, which is available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Jonathan Shenkman: And you can watch my practical planning videos, which I post several times a week, by following me on YouTube, at Jonathan Unmoney as well. And fourth, please take 30 seconds to fill out my survey at the end of this program. It helps me improve my webinars and provide timely and interesting content to attendees.
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Jonathan Shenkman: I thank you in advance for that. And with that, this concludes today's session. Please stay safe and healthy, and have a wonderful day, everybody.