Marrying again makes estate planning more involved. How do you provide for everyone you love? Should you provide for everyone you love? How do you arrange to transfer wealth in a way that won’t hurt the feelings of certain heirs?
SPECIAL NEEDS TRUSTS
If you have a child with special needs, you face long-run financial demands that cannot be fully met through federal and state assistance. What can you do to try and meet them?
ESTATE PLANNING FOR YOUR DIGITAL ASSETS
Social media and email accounts. Creative works, photos and keepsakes kept on home computers, the cloud or external storage drives. E-commerce accounts. Domain names. Bitcoin. These are all examples of digital assets. You will manage them closely as long as you live – but what will happen to them once you die?
AN ESTATE PLANNING CHECKLIST
Estate planning is a task that people tend to put off, as any discussion of “the end” tends to be off-putting. However, those who die without their financial affairs in good order risk leaving their heirs some significant problems along with their legacies.
MINIMIZING PROBATE WHEN SETTING UP YOUR ESTATE
Probate subtly reduces the value of many estates. It can take more than a year in some cases, and attorney’s fees, appraiser’s fees and court costs may eat up as much as 5% of a decedent’s accumulated assets
A PRIMER FOR ESTATE PLANNING
Estate planning is a task that people tend to put off, as any discussion of “the end” tends to be off-putting. However, those who leave this world without their financial affairs in good order risk leaving their heirs some significant problems along with their legacies.
WILLS AND LIVING TRUSTS
Living trusts are created with a clearly defined objective: to avoid probate. Misconceptions about living trusts have spread to the point where people think they can accomplish much more than they really do. Here is a realistic assessment of living trusts.
WHO NEEDS ESTATE PLANNING?
You have an estate. It doesn’t matter how limited (or unlimited) your means may be, and it doesn’t matter if you own a mansion or a motor home.
A LIVING TRUST – OR A WILL?
Can you get by with a will only, or do you need more? You see the ads all the time: “Should you have a living trust?” There is no pat answer. The fact is, the more complex your estate, the more your need for estate planning – and a living trust can be a fundamental tool in that planning. While not everyone needs a living trust, they certainly become more attractive as your estate grows more complex.