Because estate planning involves actively thinking about and planning for frightening topics like death, old age, and crippling disability, many people put it off or simply ignore it all together until it’s too late. Sadly, this unwillingness to face reality often creates serious hardship, expense, and trauma for those loved ones you leave behind. To complicate matters, the recent proliferation of online estate Read More
Getting Divorced? Your Estate Plan Needs These Four Essential Updates
If you’re in the midst of a divorce, you know what an overwhelming experience it is. Divorce disrupts every facet of life, including your estate plan. Yet, when you’re dealing with emotional and difficult issues involving your kids, your finances, your home, your family and social connections, it’s understandable that updating your estate plan can fall to the bottom of your priority list. But divorcing couples Read More
When Simple Really Isn’t Simple: The Dangers of DIY Estate Planning
Sometimes, something that looks simple or easy at first glance, can turn out to be quite complicated and much, much more difficult. Estate planning is one such thing. Search online, and you’ll find tons of online do-it-yourself estate planning services. On social media, you’re probably seeing ads for products such as Will & Trust, Legal Zoom, or Suze Orman’s estate planning kit. Such forms are typically Read More
How Do Trusts Help You Save on Taxes?
Many people come to us curious (or confused) about trusts and taxes. So we’d like to sort it out and clarify things. There are two types of trusts, and each type has its own tax consequences. Revocable trusts, which are the more commonly used trusts, have no tax consequences whatsoever. A revocable trust has your social security number as it’s tax identifier, and is not a separate entity from you for tax Read More
Is your trust funded? Setting up a trust – the right way.
“The fortune is in the follow-up.” Jim Rohn “The devil is in the details.” Ludwig Mies van der Rohe I recently met with a couple who had gone several years ago to a nearby “traditional” law firm for their estate planning. The firm created separate revocable trusts for the husband and the wife, and then, once all of the documents were signed, sent the couple an email with a spreadsheet of all of their Read More
Create a Special Needs Trust to Protect the Financial Future of Your Child with Special Needs
I am always surprised when the parents of a child with special needs tell me that they were not aware of what they needed to do to ensure the future well-being and care of their child. Often, they tell me they didn’t know they needed to do anything at all. If that’s you, and you have a child with special needs at home, this is for you (or, if you have friends or family who have a child with special needs, please Read More
6 Reasons Why a Trust is Better Than a Will
A will is one of the most basic estate planning documents, and everyone should have one to make sure that there is no question about what would happen to your assets and kids if something happens to you. But there are important reasons why having a trust in addition to a will is critical and make things so much easier for you and your family. Here are the top 6 reasons why a trust is better than a will: A Read More
Understanding the Responsibilities of a Trustee
Whether setting up a legal trust or being asked to serve as a trustee, it is essential to clearly understand the rights and responsibilities of the trustee role. When a legal trust is created, a person or an institution (such as a bank or law firm) must be named as the trustee. This individual or entity will have control over the management of the assets contained within the trust, making clear the need to fully Read More
The Dangers of Legal DIY: When Something is NOT Better Than Nothing
Go online, and you’ll find tons of websites offering do-it-yourself estate planning documents. Such forms are typically quite inexpensive. Simple wills, for example, are often priced under $50, and you can complete and print them out in a matter of minutes. In our uber-busy lives and DIY culture, it’s no surprise that this kind of thing might seem like a good deal. You know estate planning is important, and even Read More
Advice for the “Sandwich Generation”
July is Sandwich Generation month. Now that I've got you thinking about turkey BLTs or meatball subs, I have to break it to you (though I bet you can already guess,) this article isn't about food. So what is the Sandwich Generation? The average age of parents raising children in the US continues to rise, leaving many middle-aged Americans in a category commonly referred to as the the “sandwich” generation: often Read More
