“These times, they are a changin’” is the famous line by Bob Dylan. It was an anthem for the 1960’s and early 1970’s. It seemed pretty profound to us who lived through those times. Today we deal with more mundane things, like estate planning, and times have changed. The number of people who have never…
After considering Who Needs a Will? The probate process can be avoided while still maintaining a very high degree of certainty that your estate will be handled by the persons who choose, the way you want it handled, by using a living Trust. Unlike a Will, where the job is done when the Will is…
Expanding on Do-It-Yourself Estate Planning: Keeping it Simple: Do-it-yourself estate planning is simple and cheap. By using a combination of beneficiary designations, payable on death designations and joint ownership, you can pass most of your assets on directly to the people you want. This simple estate planning can work well between spouses and for very small…
After doing Estate Planning for many years, a pattern emerges in the questions that people ask (and statements that people make). For instance, people often say something like, “I just want a simple Will.” The statement begs the question: why do you want a simple Will? The reality is that people often don’t know the…
You’ve probably heard the stories about what happens when a family member dies without doing any estate planning… and if you haven’t heard them, I could fill a book! The vacuum left by the death of a loved one can produce some strange and unfortunate reactions. Slights (or perceived slights), feelings of unfairness and quirky family dynamics,…
Other aspects of estate planning are more complex, but choosing a trustee is one of the more difficult decisions to make. Conventional wisdom suggests that people should have several trustees in order of succession, but sometimes choosing even one successor trustee can be difficult. This is true whether we are talking about a living trust that is…
People often confuse executors and trustees. Both roles are important when it comes to estate planning, but the roles are distinctly different. Understanding the difference between executor and trustee will be helpful when you think about doing your estate planning. Simply put, executors are to Wills what trustees are to Trusts. An accurate picture of the…
An article we did on our Family Law website highlights the difference between marital and non-marital property owned by spouses. Marital property gets divided between the spouses if there is a divorce, but non-marital property doesn’t get divided in a divorce. Non-marital property remains the property of the spouse in whose name the property is…
A beginning question for couples who want to avoid probate by using a trust or trusts is whether to use a single, “joint trust” or to use separate trusts, one (or more) for each spouse. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. Many couples own all or most of their property jointly, and couples naturally want to duplicate…
If you have an estate plan, count yourself among the responsible few. Most people do not have one. Even if you have an estate plan, however, you should review it periodically to be sure it will meet your needs as times and circumstances and how you view your world change – and they will. When should…