Reverse Mortgage - Estate Planning Tool

A wealthy 75 year old widow needs a way to purchase a life insurance policy that will allow her to transfer more wealth to her children. She does not want the cost of the life insurance to affect her current income.

She currently has the following assets: a $750,000 home (her primary residence), $1,000,000 municipal bond portfolio (her primary income source), and a $500,000 IRA (from her deceased husband). She is living on an annual income of $75,000 that comes from the municipal bond protfolio, distributions from the IRA, and social security.

One solution that she can consider is to take out a reverse mortgage on her primary residence. She would be able to recieve $224,657 from the reverse mortgage that could be used to purchase a single premium immediate annuity, with the annual net after tax payment equal to approximately $20,000. The $20,000 annuity payment could be gifted to a trust. A life insurance policy in the amount of $600,000 would be purchased inside the Trust using these gifts to pay the premiums.

The reverse mortgage will have a significat financial impact on her estate. The reverse mortgage reduces the taxable portion of the widow's estate, while the purchased Life Insurance increases the non-taxable portion of her estate. By using a reverse mortgage for this purpose, she will achieve her objective of increasing the amount of wealth passed on to her children.

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