Don’t Fail to Fund Your Trust
Revocable trusts are a very popular and effective estate-planning tool. However, the trust will be ineffective, if you do not actually place your assets in the trust.
January 29, 2021
Use a Trust to Protect the Family Farm
The trust is a very useful and flexible tool for estate planning, yet it is probably the most underused estate management technique. A trust is an artificial entity, something like a corporation, created by a document or instrument.
January 28, 2021
Creating a Letter of Last Instruction
A letter of last instruction is a document that outlines funeral planning processes and arrangements. A letter of last instruction should not be confused with a will or testament, which is a legal document that expresses an individual’s wishes on how and to whom their estate should be transferred after their death.
January 26, 2021
There are Pros and Cons to Charitable Trusts
While direct giving has an immediate impact, some individuals may be considering charitable planning strategies that will have a larger and longer-lasting impact not only on charities, but on their own lives or that of their families.
January 21, 2021
Strategies to Keep Inheritance Money Separate
Everything each spouse earns during their marriage is community property. Fortunately, a gift or inheritance is separate property. However, that’s only half the battle.
January 20, 2021
An Irrevocable Trust may be a Good Idea
Like a lot of estate planning vehicles, irrevocable trusts work very well for some purposes—particularly for tax avoidance and asset protection—and not so well for other purposes.
January 18, 2021
Estate Planning Can Address a Troubled Child
Every family has one–or maybe more–black sheep. They’re people who march to their own drum and handing them an inheritance could be problematic.
January 6, 2021
Using Trusts in Your Planning is a Smart Move
Done right by a lawyer, your heirs can avoid the expense and time of probating your will and may save on estate taxes, while easing the administration of your affairs while alive and after you have gone.
December 29, 2020
How to Organize Digital Assets
You must now make sure that your loved ones have access to your digital assets should you die.
December 28, 2020
Should a GRAT Be Part of Your 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.
December 21, 2020