Check out our December newsletter!
December 2025
SosaLegal.com 954-532-9447
Trusted Transitions FRESH INSIGHTS FOR FAMILY AND FINANCE
What is the secret to a life well spent? For me, it’s being as proactive as possible.
we look forward to working with you to stay ahead of what’s coming down the pike and maximize your tax benefits. Please contact us for more information about how we can help set the foundation for your economic future. A New Chapter in Elder Care As I shared in last month’s newsletter, we recently created a new elder care coordinator role within our firm to help guide seniors and their families through the later stages of life. Maria Negro has been doing an incredible job serving as a liaison between senior clients and their families. Many live too far away or have too many other commitments to oversee how their loved ones are doing at their current residences (an assisted living facility or a nursing home), so Maria follows up on their current status of benefits and medical plans, treatments, risks of falls, and other health issues. Her work has become essential to how we serve our community, and she looks forward to working with new clients in the year ahead. A Guardian Angel Guides Success As I’ve learned in my years in practice, change is the only constant in life. That said, we strengthened our estate planning services this year with the debut of our Guardian Angel client maintenance program. This optional program allows our clients to be more proactive in updating their estate plans to coincide with critical life transitions. Whether they purchase a new property, set up a company, wish to update their current plan to align with evolving tax laws, move out of state, change fiduciaries, or need to address any other issue regarding their legacy, the Guardian Angel program will have them covered. We’re thrilled to offer these services and look forward to hearing from you if you require assistance in any of these areas. We’re also exploring new opportunities for growth in 2026, and I’m excited to share updates on these opportunities as they develop.
While it’s hard to believe we’ve reached another December, I look at this past year with pride. I learned long ago that personal and professional happiness comes from constant refinement and a commitment to seeking new ways to shine. Away from the office, I was determined to improve my overall health. After working with a personal trainer, I’m ending 2025 at least 20 pounds lighter than I was when the year began. This was also the year when we at the firm made tremendous progress in broadening our expertise like never before. Here are three highlights that made these past 12 months our best time yet.
A New Take on Taxes Protecting family harmony is my primary concern as an attorney. Because familial stability plays such a vital role in ongoing happiness and stability, our firm devoted much of this year to exploring ways to expand the estate and income tax services we offer our clients. I’m pleased to share that fellow attorney Olivia Marriott and I earned Master of Law degrees in taxation this year, an exciting new component to our goal of helping clients and their loved ones better navigate life’s challenges through more concise tax preparation and asset protection. The recent tax changes brought about by the signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law this past summer provide plenty of new opportunities for people to save on estate and income taxes, and
THANK YOU so much for being a part of our family this year. We can’t wait to help you maintain your harmony in 2026 and beyond.
–Horacio Sosa
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Keep More in the Family
Reduce Taxes With Strategic Gifting
When planning your legacy, gifting during your lifetime is thoughtful and strategic. Not only do your loved ones receive an early boost, but you may also shield more of your estate from federal taxes. Let’s break down six smart, actionable, and strategic ways across all states. Tap the annual gift tax exclusion. Every year, you can gift up to $19,000 per person (or $38,000 if married filing jointly) without trimming into your lifetime exemption or filing a gift-tax return. The best part is you can repeat it and share the love with an unlimited number of people. Over time, that’s a significant aggregation of tax-free transfers. Use your lifetime exemption. In 2025, the lifetime exemption is at $13.99 million per individual (and nearly $28 million for couples). In July 2025, Congress made the exemption amount permanent, so speculation about it dropping to half in 2026 has been laid to rest. In fact, the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption will increase to $15 million ($30 million per couple) on Jan. 1, 2026. Make direct payments that don’t count as gifts. You can pay unlimited amounts directly to medical providers or educational institutions for someone else’s benefit. These payments bypass the annual exclusion and the lifetime exemption limits, making them powerful and clean ways to help without tax consequences. Leverage trusts for smarter transfers. Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTs): Transfer your home to a trust while retaining the right to live there for a set
term. The gift’s taxable value is reduced thanks to the IRS’s calculation of your retained interest, meaning you minimize the use of your exclusion and remove future appreciation from your estate. Just be sure to outlive the term to reap the benefits. Intrafamily Loans: Loan money to loved ones at the IRS’s minimum applicable rate (when interest rates are low). If assets purchased with those funds appreciate, that growth shifts out of your estate and no gifting is required (unless you later forgive the loan).
“Gifting isn’t just financially savvy; it’s
Explore upstream gifting. If your parents or grandparents have estates far smaller than yours, you might gift appreciated assets upstream, allowing them to hold and later pass the assets down with a useful step- up in basis that reduces capital gains tax for future generations. Avoid estate inclusion with life insurance planning. Putting a life insurance policy into an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) can remove it from your estate so the death benefit passes tax-free to beneficiaries. But watch out for the IRS’s three-year rule: Gifting the policy within three years of your death will bring the full value back into your estate. A great workaround is to have the ILIT purchase the policy outright. Gifting isn’t just financially savvy; it’s personal, philanthropic, and full of upsides for both giver and receiver. Thoughtful planning now lets your legacy grow, live on, and stay largely intact. personal, philanthropic, and full of upsides for both giver and receiver.”
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The Hair- Cutting Intruder Who Terrorized a Town
TAKE A BREAK
CARDINAL COOKIES FROSTY GINGERBREAD GIFTS MENORAH MITTENS PEPPERMINT PINECONES SAGITTARIUS SNOWBALL YULE
The Disturbing Tale of the Phantom Barber
Few things in life are scarier than knowing someone has broken into your home. In an instant, your sanctuary has been violated, and you worry about a return appearance in which they could steal from you or even harm you. During the early 1940s, the community in Pascagoula, Mississippi, was terrorized by a mysterious home intruder who was not after the wealth or health of the locals. Instead, this person was after something we always keep close to us. In mid-June 1942, 11-year-old Mary Evelyn Briggs and 12-year- old Edna Marie Hydel were sound asleep in their room within the Our Lady of Victories convent. Mary Evelyn woke up to a nightmarish sight. “I saw the figure of a kinda short, fat man bending over me with something shiny in his hand, and he was fooling with my hair. When he saw me open my eyes, he said, ‘Shhh.’ I yelled, and he jumped out the window,” stated Mary Evelyn. Although the two girls were unharmed, Mary Evelyn started the next morning with fewer inches of hair. Shortly after, 6-year-old Carol Peattie woke up to find somebody had chopped her hair while she slept. The only evidence left behind was a cut screen window and a sandy footprint. Before the end of June, an adult fell victim to the phantom barber while she slept beside her husband. During this time, the suspicion that the barber was using chloroform to keep his victims still started to spread. Local businesses and law enforcement offered a reward of $400 (about $8,000 today) for information that would lead to the “barber’s” arrest. Earlier in the month, an intruder with a lead pipe had attacked a couple in their home. Police theorized the barber was behind the attack, giving them a serious crime to work with. They would go on to arrest 57-year-old William A. Dolan, an individual the community detested due to his pro- German views. He stood trial, was found guilty, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He maintained his innocence throughout his life and was released early after passing a lie detector test.
Classic Italian Tiramisu
Ingredients
• 1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder, plus more for dusting • 1 cup brewed espresso • 1 tbsp vanilla extract • 5 large egg yolks, cold • 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt • 16 oz mascarpone cheese, chilled • 1 3/4 cups heavy cream, chilled • 28 hard ladyfinger cookies
Directions 1. In a bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, espresso, and vanilla and set aside. 2. In a mixer, beat egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick, about 5 minutes. 3. Add salt and mascarpone cheese, and continue to whip. 4. Add the chilled heavy cream and continue to whip until light and smooth. 5. Dunk each ladyfinger in the espresso mixture to absorb the liquid and line a 7x11-inch oval baking dish with the cookies. 6. Top the first layer of cookies with half the whipped mascarpone mixture and spread it into an even layer. Dust with cocoa powder. 7. Repeat for another layer and then finish by dusting with cocoa powder on top. 8. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
The Phantom Barber effectively disappeared after Dolan’s arrest, never to silently cut the hair of unsuspecting people again.
Inspired by WhatsGabyCooking.com
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954-532-9447 SosaLegal.com 2924 Davie Rd., Ste. 102 Davie, FL 33314 INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1
A Year of Groundbreaking Growth
2
Smart Gifting Moves to Protect Your Legacy
3
Classic Italian Tiramisu
The Legend of the Phantom Barber
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The Hidden Price Tag on Clutter
We’ve all been there: staring at a closet full of clothes and thinking, “I have nothing to wear.” Or paying rent for a bigger apartment just to store things we barely use. Clutter isn’t just a space problem; it’s a money problem. Every unused subscription silently chips away at your finances. The good news is that minimalism offers a way out. Far from being about deprivation, it’s about reclaiming control of your space, spending, and savings. The Hidden Price of ‘Stuff’ Every purchase comes with two price tags: the sticker price and the hidden costs. That $50 gadget isn’t just $50; it might also mean higher credit card interest if you’re carrying debt, or another box in the attic eating up storage space. The more we accumulate, the more we pay to maintain, store, clean, and eventually replace those items. That’s where minimalism comes in. It forces us to ask: “Do I really need this, or is it just clutter in disguise?” Quality Over Quantity Minimalism doesn’t mean buying nothing. Instead, it’s about buying better. One high-quality pair of shoes can last for years, while three cheap pairs wear out quickly and cost more in the long run. Choosing durability and timeless designs over impulse buys protects your wallet and reduces waste. Simplifying Finances Clutter can even creep into your bank account. Old subscriptions, overlapping accounts, and unused memberships all nibble away at your budget. By canceling what you don’t use How Minimalism Can Save You Thousands THE COST OF CLUTTER
and streamlining your finances, you save money and reduce the mental load of tracking your bills. Downsizing Expenses One of the biggest financial wins of minimalism comes from downsizing. A smaller home or apartment doesn’t just mean lower rent or mortgage; it also slashes utilities, maintenance, insurance, and even property taxes. More Space for What Matters A clutter-free environment frees up mental bandwidth. With fewer distractions, you can focus on what truly matters: building a side hustle, nurturing relationships, or enjoying a calmer, more intentional life.
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