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Updating your estate plan is very important. We recently discussed how it’s generally necessary to do this after you get a divorce. Your spouse may have figured prominently in your estate plan, and it is time to reconfigure things now that you are single – or even...
When a person passes away with debt, it has to be addressed during probate, along with their assets. This is true if they have major debts, like $100,000 in medical bills, and if they just have minor debts, like $2,000 in credit card charges. The way that debt is...
To draft an estate plan, a person must have testamentary capacity. This is the mental capacity to understand the estate planning process, to fully grasp the decisions that they are making and things of this nature. A person just needs to be cognitively aware of the...
Simply writing a will is often the first step that people take when they decide that it is time to create an estate plan. They use their will to divide their assets among their beneficiaries, giving them a bit more control over how things are passed on to the next...
The end of a person’s life does not always come quickly. Some people spend days, weeks, months or even years in a poor mental or physical state before they actually die. During that liminal period when someone is incapacitated but still living, bills still have to be...
People typically update their estate plan every three to five years, but a lot can happen in that time. If you’ve recently been through a divorce, you need to make adjustments sooner. While everybody’s situation is unique, here are several areas of concern that may...
A trust is a legal arrangement that allows a trustee to manage trust funds. The trustee is responsible for distributing funds to the beneficiaries of the trust. In a revocable trust, for example, trust funds may be distributed to beneficiaries once the person who...
Ethical wills and legacy letters help people share their values, memories and wisdom with loved ones after they pass away. While they are not legal instruments, they strengthen an estate plan by offering clarity and emotional support. Many families use them to...
Many spouses who have been married for decades and own all of their assets together believe they only need one joint will. That’s especially true if they have relatively uncomplicated assets and their plan is for whichever spouse outlives the other to inherit...
When most people think of their estate plan, they tend to focus on physical assets such as their homes, bank accounts, vehicles and family heirlooms. But in today’s world, many of your most valuable assets and personal information exist online. From online banking...
