What are the Basic Estate Planning Documents?
In a nutshell, an estate plan encompasses the accumulation, conservation and distribution of an estate. Done well, it will enhance and maintain the financial security of the next generation.
Estate Law Blogs & News
What Happens to Credit Card Debt when Someone Dies?
If you get bogged down with a high balance that you can’t easily afford to pay off, it can take years to get out of debt. However, what happens to your credit card debt, if you die before you’ve repaid it?
What Should I Know about a Revocable Living Trust?
A living trust is an estate planning legal document that contains your instructions and authorization for what you want to happen to your assets, when you become disabled or pass away.
What are the Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes?
Taking a few simple steps now can potentially help save your beneficiaries thousands in legal fees and taxes.
Should a GRAT Be Part of My Estate Plan?
Low interest rates and looming potential tax changes make this a good time for high-net-worth clients to use a special tool to transfer wealth: the grantor-retained annuity trust (GRAT), a strategy to reduce future estate taxes, by transferring assets to beneficiaries without using the lifetime gift tax exclusion.
Stop Procrastinating and Have Your Estate Plan Done
The steady drone of coronavirus news these past nine months has spurred countless older Americans to face a long-procrastinated task: writing—or rewriting—their wills.
Should a Donor-Advised Fund Be Part of My Estate Planning?
With the prospect of a Biden administration potentially raising tax rates and cutting estate tax exclusion amounts in half, some well-off taxpayers may be looking for a way to ease their burden, even while contributing to their favorite charities. A donor-advised fund may well be that opportunity.
Joint or Separate Trusts?
In situations where both spouses want the surviving spouse to inherit all the assets, which is often the case, a joint trust can be far less complicated to set up and maintain than separate trusts, with less headaches for the surviving spouse.
How Do I Plan for a Loved One with Special Needs?
It is critical that parents and grandparents give careful thought to any gift of money or bequest in an estate plan, when the recipient has special needs.
Do You Know Your Job as Executor, Agent or Trustee?
Has a family member or close friend asked you to serve as their executor, trustee or power of attorney? If you accepted the responsibility, do you know what this entails? Have you been given a copy of the documents you were named under? Do you know when you would begin serving in these roles? These are all important questions to ask or consider.
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