Many believe that once they set up and fund a revocable living trust, property held in the trust will completely avoid federal estate taxes after they die. In reality, a living trust does not provide any unique estate tax avoidance strategies.
The primary mechanisms for reducing estate taxes—the unlimited...
You wake up and check your investments over a cup of coffee. That tech stock you have been eyeing continues to trend upward, so you log in to your online brokerage account and buy some shares.
Later in the day, you get a notice that your mortgage payment has...
Americans often prefer to stay busy. When we are not working, many of us turn to hobbies to keep us engaged and productive. We spend hours each day on our hobbies and leisure activities. Over the course of a lifetime, this time adds up to a significant investment.
Our...
Michael Jackson passed away in 2009, but the settling of his estate continues more than 15 years after his death due to a lingering tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other legal challenges, including a lawsuit brought by his mother over a deal to sell part of his music...
One common way to avoid the probate requirement for real estate after the owner dies is to add children or other individuals to the property title as joint owners with rights of survivorship. When joint owners have survivorship rights and one joint owner passes away, the remaining owners automatically receive the entire...
If you have established a revocable living trust (which we will refer to simply as a trust), congratulations! You are on the right track in creating a comprehensive estate plan. However, you are only halfway there. Many people believe that because they took the time to create a trust, their estate will...
Thinking about the world and how our loved ones will fare after we pass away can be very difficult. Although we all know that we will pass away at some point, this is not something most people like to dwell on. However, by proactively planning and prioritizing your goals, you can craft...
When most people think about creating an estate plan, they usually focus on what will happen when they die. They typically do not consider what their wishes would be if they were alive but unable to manage their own affairs (in other words, if they are alive but incapacitated). In many cases,...
The first private pension plan in the United States was established in the late 1800s. Through 1980, nearly 40 percent of Americans were covered by a traditional employer-funded pension. But employer-provided retirement plans have now largely shifted to retirement savings vehicles like 401(k) plans and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) that place most...
Death is a personal and private affair that affects the deceased’s close family and friends. However, there is at least one aspect of death that may require state oversight: probate.
Probate is the court-supervised process of either (a) carrying out the instructions laid out in the deceased’s will or...
