Choate’s Notes
“Choate’s Notes” is a newsletter with interesting tidbits for professionals, mainly on the subject of estate planning for retirement benefits. It is sent by first class mail only, and as of now is free. (Advertisements are enclosed with the newsletter, so that’s why it’s free.) The publication schedule is extremely irregular.
The first page of each issue discusses resources such as books, courses, websites, etc. of interest to estate planning and investment professionals; as each issue is published, these are transferred to the Resources section of this website.
The second page of each issue contains a short article on an estate planning or retirement benefits planning topic; back issues of this “back page” can be read here.
If you would like to be on the mailing list for Choate’s Notes, please complete this form. You MUST include your professional title and/or the name of your firm. Choate’s Notes is only for professionals in the estate planning, retirement plan or money management business, including lawyers, paralegals, accountants and other tax professionals, money managers, financial planners, life insurance and annuity sellers, plan administrators, planned giving officers, IRA providers, mutual fund companies, trust officers, and actuaries.
Read the articles from back issues (in pdf format)
You will need Acrobat Reader to open and save the pdf file. (You can download Reader for free at Adobe’s website.)
- Vol. 15 No. 1, 2012: Ideas for Underemployed Estate Planners
- Vol. 14 No. 1, 2012: How to Ask Questions
- Vol. 13, No. 1, Spring 2011: Disclaimers: Essentials + New Deadline
- Vol. 12, No. 2, Fall 2010: Who Makes Retirement Benefit Mistakes?
- Vol. 12, No. 1, Spring 2010: How to Cure an Excess IRA Contribution
- Vol. 11, No. 1, Spring 2009: Roth IRA Options Exploding
- Vol. 10, No. 1, Spring 2008: Separation vs. Severance vs. Retirement
- Vol. 9, No. 2, Summer 2007: What’s New Over the Summer?
- Vol. 9, No. 1, Spring 2007: Retirement Benefit Riddles
- Vol. 8, No. 2, Summer 2006: Pension Protection Act of 2006
- Vol. 8, No. 1, Spring 2006: Rolling over from a DRAC to a Roth IRA
- Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 2005: Seven Reasons to Use an IRT Instead of an IRCA
- Vol. 7, No. 1, Spring 2005: When is there a “distribution” from a retirement plan?
- Vol. 6, No. 1, Spring 2004: Should I combine all my IRAs or keep multiple separate IRAs?
- Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 2003: When the Plan Administrator Won’t Cooperate with the Executor
- Vol. 5, No. 1, Winter 2003: Big PLRs of 2002
- Vol. 4, No. 1, Feb. 2002: Planning for Post-death and Post-disability Rollovers
- Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 2001: Sex, Lies and IRS Publication 590
- Vol. 3, No.1, Spring 2001: Never Revoke an Old Trust
- Vol. 2, No.1, Fall 2000: The Forgotten Grandfathers: Retirement Plan Grandfather Rules
- Vol. 1, No. 2, November 1999: Keogh Kapers: How Keogh Plans Differ from Other QRPs
- Vol. 1, No.1a, June 1999: The MRD Limbo Period (from Jan. 1 of the age-70½ year to the RBD)