Jul 13, 2017 | Estate Planning
In a study conducted by caring.com in 2015, only 56% of American households had a will or a living trust. While most of us understand the importance of having a will in place, especially in seeing to the needs of a young family, there is still an unexplained...
May 21, 2015 | Estate Planning
One common way to avoid probate of real estate after the owner dies is to hold the title to the property in joint names with rights of survivor-ship with children or other beneficiaries. Adding the names of children and certain legal terms to a new deed for the...
May 13, 2015 | Estate Planning
If you think you only need to create discretionary lifetime trusts for young beneficiaries, problem beneficiaries, or financially inexperienced beneficiaries, then think again. In this day and age of frivolous lawsuits and high divorce rates, discretionary lifetime...
Mar 26, 2015 | Estate Planning
Today many estate plans contain irrevocable dynasty trusts that will continue for the benefit of a spouse’s lifetime and then for the benefit of several generations. Since these trusts are designed to span multiple decades, it is important that they clearly define...
Dec 26, 2014 | Estate Planning
Don’t let the chaos of the holiday season prevent you from avoiding federal gift tax by making “annual exclusion” gifts, medical payments gifts, and educational gifts. Make Annual Exclusion Gifts “Annual exclusion” gifts are transfers of money or property in an amount...