Recent Blog Posts
What Does A Trust Protector Do?
One of the great things about setting up a trust, is the ability to include conditions on who gets the assets of the trust, and when. So, for example, you could leave money to someone only if they graduate college, or money to someone so long as they continue to remain disabled, or money… Read More »
Strategies To Pay For Long Term Care
If you’re creating an estate plan, you don’t have to only plan for when you are gone. Part of estate planning includes paying for long term care: a time when you may be alive, but be in need of long term or nursing home care. Because of the significant expense of such care, it… Read More »
Your Business In Probate: What Happens To It?
If you are creating an estate plan, one asset that needs to be considered, if you have it, is your business. But a business isn’t like a house or a car; you can’t just easily leave it to whomever you designate. State laws say what happens to a company when you pass, and to… Read More »
Inflation And Your Estate Plan
Unlike many other areas of the law that deal with contracts or documents, estate planning is unique in that while the documents you draft are effective once they are legally executed, they may not be needed, or used, for years. Looking to the Future Even if the person making the estate plan is at… Read More »
Using A Right Of Occupancy Trust
Many of us have or expect to have real property as part of our estate, to leave to our loved ones. And those loved ones, once they inherit, have the right to do what they want with the property that you leave them. But what if you don’t want that to happen? What if… Read More »
Avoiding Challenges Of Undue Influence When Making Your Estate Plan
When our parents or other loved ones get older, they start to need our help more and more. And one thing that you may want to help elderly relatives with, is creating an estate plan. The advice and push to have older relatives create an estate plan, is a smart idea. But what many… Read More »
Don’t Make These Estate Planning Mistakes
When you do your estate plan, you may think it’s a relatively easy process—after all, all you do is take all your stuff, and write down who you want it to go to, rights? Well, actually, despite the fact that this is, at the core, what estate planning is, there are actually a lot… Read More »
Valuing And Appraising Artwork In An Estate
When an estate is opened in probate court, the value of most of the items in an estate need to be valued. That may be for creditors, for tax or IRS purposes, or for the purpose of eventual liquidation, if property will be sold for funds. The Problem with Artwork For some items, it… Read More »
Think About What Assets You Are Leaving In Your Estate Plan
When you make an estate plan, it can be very easy and very tempting to just take everything that you own, and divide it amongst your family—especially if you don’t have a lot of assets, or if you don’t have a lot of family. We often give thought to our family, and who needs… Read More »
Can You Omit A Child From Your Will Or Estate Documents?
There are certain times and certain situations, where, when you are making your estate plan, you may want to omit one of your biological children from that estate plan, or else, leave to them an inheritance that is significantly less than that of your other children. This can happen for a number of reasons…. Read More »