Family Portrait At Christmas

Being an executor is not an easy job and can be quite stressful. Many people trust one of their own children above all other potential candidates when considering the responsibilities of an executor.  However, it is not always a good idea, according to Texas Lawyer in “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be […]

deers

The distribution of real estate can be a good deal or a bad deal. One way to avoid real estate going through probate is to put someone else’s name on the ownership of the asset. However, that almost always comes out badly, according to the Daily Republic in “All Things Real Estate: Living trust best […]

Giving to charity

What you decide to do with retirement accounts can be a major enhancement to your estate plan. IRA retirement benefits can be used as a way to balance out other bequests and it can be used to support other estate planning goals. There are also tax implications to consider, according to  Morningstar in “Who Should […]

extended family

Wills and trust often go hand-in-hand, when it comes to estate planning. Should you decide to use an online service instead of going to an estate planning attorney, you may find yourself with a trust but then learn you also need a will, according to the Lake County News in “The difference between a trust […]

human miniature standing over piled coins

As size of estates increase, so do the number of challenges. However, success isn’t easy to come by. As the number of wealthy estates increase, both the U.S. and Canada find themselves in challenges brought about by people who believe they didn’t get their fair share, according to The Globe and Mail in “Left out of […]

extended family

A challenge can be created when one child is responsible, and others aren’t. Varying degrees of financial responsibility by children can be a challenge to creating an estate plan, according to Market Watch in “My son is responsible, my daughter is in debt — how do I split my estate?“. A common way to meet […]

Elderly Female Patient Wearing a Blood Pressure Gauge

You can’t necessarily prevent being incapacitated. However, you can make plans, just in case it should occur. There are no age requirements for disabling accidents or illnesses, so it would be wise for everyone to plan for what would happen if they were to be incapacitated. It is not difficult, according to TC Palm in “Be […]

question mark

Create a second trust and the first is revoked? It doesn’t work that way. A common question was presented to a column about trusts, according to the NWI Times in “Can an individual establish more than one trust?“. The question was if a second trust wipes out the first trust. The confusion over trusts is […]

Senior Couple At Home

In trying to avoid probate, people can find themselves getting the opposite results. Many people do not realize that probate courts handle more things than just wills and can’t always be avoided, according to WLTX19 in “Man spends thousands in probate costs to help wife with dementia.” Consider the case of one elderly couple in […]

senior couple standing together

Estate planning is one of those things that is better done now, rather than waiting until later. That can actually be too late. The question comes up about finding the right time to set up an estate plan as life marches forward. However, the one certainty is that you will always be better off with […]