It feels great to have your estate plan completed—but that does not mean it is something you can file and forget. Life is all about changes, and your estate plan needs to keep pace. Just one good-sized change in your…
The potential for avoiding the process and costs of probate makes some people feel like living trusts are the answer to their estate planning problems. However, there are certain limitations and costs associated with trusts, which need to be considered…
Sometimes it’s easier to wrap your head around the idea of selling a business, when you see how the exit plan for a business must, by necessity, be a part of estate planning. This often helps owners more fully understand…
This approach isn’t for everyone, but if your assets are large enough that you may be facing estate tax issues, a trust may reduce your potential future estate tax, while funding the costs of college education. The 529 college savings…
If you thought retirement was all fun and games, think again! Penalties for missing deadlines, failing to take distributions in a timely manner and other mistakes, can have a big impact on retirement finances. Taxes are just one of the…
People in their 50s can buy as big a house and as fancy a car as they want, but when it comes to real wealth, that’s in the hands of Americans who are 80 and older. When it comes to…
It’s heartbreaking, but it does happen: both parents die unexpectedly, and there’s no will, and no one has been named a guardian. Who decides who will raise your children? Being a good parent means being responsible for the well-being of…
An estate plan is much more than a will to distribute your worldly goods. An estate plan plans for incapacity, including conveying your end-of-life care wishes and tells others how you want to be cared for when you cannot speak…
In markets where a home’s value is near or above a million dollars, estate planning decisions about the family home become complicated. Do you downsize and sell now, put your home in a trust or age in place and let…
If you don’t get the assets into the trust, you end up with an “unfunded” trust. If an “unfunded” trust ends up being created because assets were not transferred, there are a number of things that can happen when the…