Getting ready to embark on your next great adventure? Before you zip up the last suitcase, here are five issues you need to address to protect yourself and your loved ones.
Do you have a foundational estate plan? Has it been reviewed?
An estate plan is...
Anne Heche’s recent accidental death was a shocking reminder of how the everyday can quickly turn into the tragic. While driving through the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles on August 5, 2022, Heche was involved in a car crash and succumbed to her injuries a week later. The official cause of...
The notion that your estate plan contains a defect would not normally be welcomed as good news. But despite the moniker, an intentionally defective grantor trust (IDGT) can be an advantageous tool for minimizing estate taxes and maximizing the money and property that are passed on to a spouse, descendants, or other...
When you pass away, your family may need to sign certain documents as part of a probate process in order to claim their inheritance. This can happen if you own property (like a house, car, bank account, investment account, or other asset) in your name only and you have not completed a...
In estate planning circles, the word “probate” often carries a negative connotation. Indeed, for many people—especially those with valuable accounts and property—financial planners recommend trying to keep accounts and property out of probate whenever possible. That being said, the probate system was ultimately established to protect the deceased’s accounts and property as...
Ideally, when someone passes away, the paperwork and material concerns associated with the deceased’s passing are so seamlessly handled (thanks to excellent preparation) that they fade into the background, allowing the family and other loved ones to grieve and remember the deceased in peace.
In fact, the whole business...
When a married couple creates an estate plan using a revocable living trust, they have the option of creating a single joint trust or two separate individual trusts. While the pros and cons of each are beyond the scope of this article, spouses may choose to create separate trusts for a variety...
Creating an estate plan is a personal and often emotional undertaking, making the selection of your estate planning attorney of the utmost importance. Here are some questions you should ask your estate planning attorney to determine if they are the right person for the job.
Why did they pick...
Every trust has at least one grantor, also known as the trustmaker, i.e., the person who creates the trust. So, it can be confusing when terms like grantor trust and nongrantor trust are used. It is helpful to understand that neither of these terms refers to the existence or nonexistence of the...
A trustee has a duty under the law to communicate with beneficiaries and keep them reasonably informed as to the progress of the trust administration. Depending on your state’s law, such duty to inform may require the trustee to give beneficiaries a copy of the trust document, provide information regarding the anticipated...
