A comprehensive estate plan includes several documents that accomplish three key things. First, they lay out your wishes for the handling of your money and property during life and at death. Second, they explain your medical wishes if you are no longer able to make them yourself or Continue reading
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Estate Planning Concerns for the Unmarried
As an unmarried individual, you may feel overwhelmed when you think about who will step in and make decisions for you if you cannot make decisions for yourself and who will receive your money and property when you die. A married person often assumes a spouse would have authority to Continue reading
Limitations to Your Power of Attorney
A comprehensive estate plan not only directs what happens to your financial wealth when you pass away, it also addresses the possibility that you could become unable to handle your financial matters while you are still alive, due to accident, illness, or as the result of aging.
A durable Continue reading
How Can Remarriage Affect Your Estate Planning?
Divorce and remarriage are more common now than in the past. If you or someone named in your estate planning documents has remarried, there are several major issues that you should be aware of and some steps you should take to ensure your estate planning continues to be appropriate Continue reading
Estate Planning for Your Later Years
According to a recent study conducted by Caring.com, the percentage of people aged fifty-five and older who have created a will has fallen from 60 percent to 44 percent since 2019. Although creating or updating your estate planning may seem challenging, a proper estate plan can help Continue reading
Special Needs Trust
If you have a loved one who is disabled or has special needs, great care and consideration must be taken when deciding how to provide for them in your estate plan. An inheritance received outright could cause that special needs beneficiary to lose eligibility for government aid or Continue reading
Should a Prenuptial Agreement be Part of Your Estate Planning?
Some folks have the mistaken notion that a prenuptial agreement is only for the super wealthy or those who have little faith in the strength of their marriage. So, the thought is that a wealthy person needs a prenuptial to prevent a gold-digger from entering a marriage just so that Continue reading
Gifts Your Family Will Love that the IRS Will Not Tax
Congress has various taxing systems in place to tax the transfer of wealth, both during your lifetime and after you pass away. There are certain transfers you can make, however, without incurring any tax.
Annual Exclusion Gifts
Each year, you can give up to an amount set by law, called Continue reading
Can My Child be Both a Beneficiary and a Trustee of My Trust?
Clients often naturally name their children to be beneficiaries of their revocable living trusts. Many clients also wish to name one or more of their children as the trustee of that trust but are not sure if that is allowed by the law. While a beneficiary is allowed to be a trustee Continue reading
Could Your Heirs Benefit from the Protection of a Spendthrift Trust?
For many people, a trust is one of the foundational tools used when putting together their estate plan.
A trust is a fiduciary arrangement, established by a settlor or trustmaker, giving a third party, the trustee, the authority to manage assets on behalf of one or more persons known Continue reading
Types of Life Insurance That Might Be Used in Estate Planning
There are many types of life insurance available that could be considered as part of one’s estate plan. Let’s look at a few.
What Is Life Insurance?
In general terms, life insurance is a contract between two parties, usually an individual and an insurance company, in which the insurance Continue reading
Can I Name a Disabled Individual as My Key Helper?
An important element of creating an estate plan is choosing who will act for you to handle your legal, medical, and financial affairs if you become unable to manage them yourself due to accident, illness, or aging, and when you pass away. The individual or entity you choose must be Continue reading
Living, Testamentary, and Constructive Trusts – Are They All the Same?
There are many different types of trusts that can be used in estate planning. Here we discuss a few types that may be appropriate for your situation that you might consider for your own estate planning.
Living Trusts
A living trust is the most common type of trust used in estate planning. Continue reading
Why Are My Estate Planning Documents So Long?
If you have completed your estate planning recently, or recently updated an older estate plan, you may have been surprised at the length of many of the documents that make up your plan. You may have entered the planning thinking that your situation was relatively simple and straight Continue reading
Handling the Legal Affairs of a Missing Person
The Department of Justice reports that approximately 600,000 people go missing in the United States each year. The loved ones who are left behind must carry not only heavy emotional burdens but significant practical burdens too. People who go missing often leave behind real estate Continue reading
Selling a Deceased Loved One’s Real Estate: Things You Need to Know
After the death of a loved one, such as a parent, there are a variety of tasks that must be handled to wrap up your loved one’s final affairs. Selling your deceased loved one’s real estate is one of the more daunting ones. But before you call a real estate agent, you should take some Continue reading
What Are The Rights of a Child Born Outside of Marriage?
In today’s society, children born to unmarried parents are commonplace. Historically, children in this category were treated poorly by both society and the law. In many cases, they had no right to inherit from either parent. Laws eventually changed and provided means for these children Continue reading
Simultaneous Deaths: What If My Spouse and I Die at the Same Time?
The chances of a married couple dying in a common accident or within a very short time of one another are probably quite slim. However, it does happen. And it happens frequently enough that most states have laws to address the issue and the problems that can arise from simultaneous Continue reading
Estate Planning for Unmarried Partners
Estate planning is essential for everyone, but it is especially important if you and your partner are in a long-term committed relationship and are not married. Unless you plan properly, your partner will not receive any of your money or property when you pass away and will be unable Continue reading
It’s All in the Family: Understanding Common Legal Terms That Describe Loved Ones in Estate Planning
Using the correct terms is critical in wills, trusts, and other legal documents because words describing familial relationships have distinct definitions and carry significant implications. The wrong word can confuse your intended meaning and cause an unintended result. Here are a Continue reading
Why Unmarried Partners Should Care About Estate Planning
Studies show that more and more Americans are living with an unmarried partner and entering into long-term committed relationships without getting married. Unfortunately, many state and federal laws do not protect unmarried couples as they do married couples when it comes to inheritance, Continue reading
Options for Transferring Your IRA to a Loved One
Now, more than ever before, Americans are using a variety of tax-deferred accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs to save for retirement. For many of my clients, their retirement account is their largest asset. And while the laws are currently designed so that people must start withdrawing Continue reading
How to Talk to Mom and Dad About Creating an Estate Plan
Conversations about incapacity, death, and dying are rarely fun. Most people avoid them because it can be unsettling to discuss failing health and the inevitability of death. Engaging in these conversations can be particularly difficult for parents and their adult children. Adult Continue reading
Caution: Creditors Are a Threat to Inherited Retirement Accounts
Do you have an IRA or other type of retirement account that you plan to leave to your loved ones? If so, proceed with caution. Inherited retirement accounts do not have asset protection when they pass to your loved ones, according to a 9-0 ruling from the United States Supreme Court Continue reading
Five Reasons to Protect Your Retirement Accounts Now
Your retirement accounts come with some great features. Two of the primary features are tax-deferred growth and asset protection. However, these great features do not fully pass to your loved ones after your death. The tax-deferred growth is limited, with some exceptions, to a ten-year Continue reading