Increasingly, financial advisors are working with clients from nontraditional families, which can sometimes require different or additional strategies to protect their assets and achieve their financial goals.
Perhaps one of the most difficult, and increasingly common, estate planning questions involves the inclusion or disinheritance of an estranged child.
Many people have signed at least one power of attorney in their life. A power of attorney, which names a trusted family member, friend or advisor as your ‘attorney-in-fact’ to control your assets, is meant to be used if you are incapacitated.
We are estate planning and probate attorneys and we experience death weekly. The saddest aspect of our work is knowing that most, if not all,
Conversations about family succession plans are difficult.
We have seen some step siblings able to all get along fine but they seem to be the exception. More likely, one sibling feels divided loyalty to the birth parent, not the step-parent.
I know of someone who was joint account holder with his dad for many years, then later his dad then appointed him as power of attorney. How does that work? Is the son still a joint account holder?
While discussing estate planning with my parents, they told me that an attorney prepared a deed for them but told them not to record it yet.
Right now, gifts to trusts can take advantage of high tax exemptions and remove future appreciation of assets from taxable estates. One example available to spouses is making a gift to a trust that allows for a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) election.
Over the years I get all kinds of questions from people. And boy, have I heard some doozies. But one common one I get is called the ‘lazy (or poor) man’s (or woman’s’) estate planning.’ This type of estate planning has some very negative tax consequences.
