When do you use an irrevocable trust?

Irrevocable trusts are a tool that you can use to remove assets from your estate. There are two key purposes for doing this. First, taking assets out of your estate may make it so that they are not eligible for other people to get them. If you’re involved in litigation or high-risk issues, setting up irrevocable trusts to transfer asset ownership to other people (family members or others) is an important thing to think about.Read More…

What is the probate process?

Probate is a legal process where you actually file a petition with court. It is almost like filing a lawsuit, except that theoretically it is supposed to be a positive transaction. You file with the court, you ask them for permission to make an accounting on all the assets in the estate and to sell the assets in the estate off. All the beneficiaries of the estate are notified that a probate is in process,Read More…

How do I hand out money to my kids?

Handing money out to children is an interesting concept that a lot of people think about and aren’t sure what the answer should be. Generally kids aren’t able to handle money very well until they are in their 30s or sometimes older. The first money that they inherit from their parents disappears because they buy new things or make loans to friends and pretty soon there is not much left. Most of our clients spreadRead More…

What is an advance healthcare directive?

When we are drafting an estate plan, we start out with what’s called an “advance healthcare directive”.  It is a written document that says what you would like to see happen with your healthcare decisions if you cannot make them. It is a power that you give to somebody else to make those decisions. If you don’t have a healthcare directive and you are under a doctor’s care, there are things the doctor can andRead More…

Why have a revocable trust?

When you go to set up a revocable trust, you are taking substantially all the assets in your estate and putting them into the name of the trust. There may be assets that you leave outside of the trust for specific purposes, but for the most part, all of your assets are in the trust. If you’re married, you and your wife are the co-trustees on this trust. If one of you passes away, theRead More…

Don’t Risk it: Protect Your Finances From Coronavirus Complications

Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends: Many Americans spend a lot of time and effort in managing their finances. While most are worried about how the coronavirus (COVID-19) will impact their income—whether that’s because they are temporarily furloughed, find themselves suddenly without a job, or watching their investment and retirement accounts dwindle—there is another way COVID-19 can wreak havoc on American’s finances: lack of incapacity planning. As the coronavirus continues to expand across the country, thousandsRead More…

Protecting your Separate Property

Often, we have clients who desire to protect their separate property before a marriage, or their gifts from parents later in life. One way to do this is with a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. These agreements are difficult to do, for all of the obvious reasons. Another way to maintain separate property is to create Separate Property trusts to hold assets that are separate property. Separate property assets are those assets that you owned beforeRead More…

The Durable Power of Attorney and Living Will Protecting your health, dignity and assets

At some point in your life, you may be confronted with various situations, such as deteriorating health, an accident or other  unforeseen circumstances, which may cause you to be unable to make decisions about your own medical care and personal finances. However, by executing a Durable Power of Attorney and Living Will, you can ensure that any medical wishes you have will be respected and your personal and business affairs will be kept in order.Read More…

TRANSFERRING ASSETS TO YOUR TRUST

Most people are aware that one of the major benefits of establishing a trust is that a trust avoids the expense and delay of probate. Unfortunately, too many people establish a trust, and then defeat one of the major reasons for having the trust by failing to transfer all of their assets into the trust. Probate proceedings can only be avoided if all of the assets of the deceased have been placed in the trust.

THERE MIGHT BE A WILL, BUT IS IT THE WAY?

If you are like most people, you believe a simple Will is all that is needed to transfer your property to your loved ones in the event of your death. While it is in fact one way to accomplish this goal, it often times is not the best way or most cost efficient approach.