You’ve likely heard once or twice that only people with a large estate benefit from making estate plans. This idea is only a myth. Estate planning has a lot of benefits besides distributing assets. For example, parents can make estate plans that name child guardians....
A will may have to face estate taxes, probate and disputes, which might make it more difficult for heirs to inherit the deceased person's property. A trust, by comparison, can avoid estate taxes and help insulate what you want to leave behind to your heirs from...
Asking someone to execute your estate is asking a lot of them, far more than many of the favors you may typically ask of friends or family. While your estate can compensate them for their time, it is a relatively small amount given the work involved. Hence, you may be...
If you have worked hard your entire life to build a successful business, it is only sensible that you come up with its succession plan. With a solid plan, you can have peace of mind knowing that your legacy will be in safe hands. Fortunately, estate planning offers a...
Most parents leave their assets to their children. Whether you intend to do that or not, it is what most people expect, so it is worth discussing things with them either way. Here are some of the advantages of such conversations: They can put in any special requests...
The moment your child is born, any prior estate plan you may have is out of date. If you haven’t yet made an estate plan, now is the ideal time to do it because your child's future well-being could come to depend on it. Every day people lose their life when they least...
If you have not made an estate plan, you might assume that most other people you know have. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. A recent study found that 67% of adults have not yet made theirs either. So, where does this collective failure to plan for the future come come...
There are many estate planning options available. One you might not have heard of is called a dynasty trust. This is a way of passing your assets to future generations while shielding those assets from tax liabilities. It’s a tool that tends to be used more by...
As a parent making your estate plan brings extra responsibilities, you need to name a guardian to raise your children if you pass away before they become adults and think about how your assets can help pay for their upbringing. Yet, what if your children are already...
When you appoint an executor of your will, you hope not to need them for a long time. A lot can change in a year, let alone a few decades, so do you need to tell your executor when things change? Or can you just leave them to work it all out when you die? It’s up to...
