- What Is Trust Decanting?
When you create an irrevocable trust, usually, the terms are set in stone. But what happens when you need to make adjustments due to significant life, law or personal changes? For example, let’s say your trustee is diagnosed with a life-threatening… read more…
- How to Deposit a Large Cash Inheritance
If someone close to you has died, the last thing you may want to talk about is money. However, in order to honor their final wishes, you’ll need to follow their will (if they left one) or potentially go to… read more…
- What Is a Sole Beneficiary?
One of the most important aspects of estate planning is choosing who you’d like to be your beneficiaries. A beneficiary is someone who is named to receive a financial gift from an estate or a specific asset, such as a… read more…
- Inheritance Rules for In-Laws
When someone passes away, whether unexpectedly or not, it can raise questions about who will inherit what. Specifically, you might be wondering whether in-laws have a right to any of the assets of the deceased person. The short answer is… read more…
- Online Trust Creation: Estate Planning
Online tools allowing anyone to create a trust without the help of an attorney can reduce the money and time consumed in estate planning. Living trusts are widely used in estate planning to avoid probate and reduce costs and delay… read more…
- What Is a Secondary or Contingent Beneficiary?
A secondary beneficiary, also called a contingent beneficiary, is a person or entity entitled to get a distribution of assets from an estate or trust after the estate owner’s death if the primary beneficiary is unable or unwilling to accept… read more…
- 5 Retirement Plan Beneficiary Mistakes to Avoid
Considering your eventual death and planning who will inherit your assets can be a difficult and uncomfortable task. In that process, though, it’s important to manage your retirement accounts and designate beneficiaries accordingly. Here are five retirement plan beneficiary mistakes… read more…
- Can Your IRA be Placed in a Trust?
A trust can hold many different assets, including your individual retirement account (IRA). Doing so can have benefits for you and your heirs, but it’s important to structure the trust properly. We’ll discuss how a trust works and what you… read more…
- What Estate Expenses Are Paid by the Beneficiary?
Settling an estate can be a complicated and sometimes time-consuming process. It’s the job of the executor to inventory assets, determine what expenses need to be paid and distribute the remainder of the estate to the deceased’s beneficiaries. If you’re… read more…
- Should You Name a Bank as Trustee of Your Trust?
A trust is an excellent way to bestow wealth, but disbursing money to your beneficiaries hinges on a crucial party: the trustee. Your trustee’s financial knowledge, discretion and accountability will influence how a trust impacts beneficiaries. These duties can be… read more…
- Estate as Life Insurance Beneficiary
When a loved one dies, there are a lot of questions you have to deal with, not the least of which is how to pay for a funeral and other death expenses. A life insurance policy could help, but the… read more…
- Middle-Aged Americans Aren’t Planning Their Estates. Here’s How to Fix That
Estate planning has become less of a priority for middle-aged adults, a new survey indicates. Americans between 35 and 54 years old are for the first time less likely to have a will than people ages 18 to 34, according to… read more…
- Is Life Insurance Part of an Estate?
Estate planning is one of the most difficult and important financial planning processes you’ll ever go through. It’s complex, and the bigger your estate, the tougher it gets. While creating your estate plan, you may find yourself wondering whether your life insurance… read more…
- Residuary Estate Definition and Example
When mapping out your estate plan, you may come across the term “residuary estate.” In simple terms, a residuary estate is any part of your estate that hasn’t been distributed to your heirs through a last will and testament. Also… read more…
- What Is a No-Contest Clause in a Will?
Estate planning can be complicated. You often need the services of a professional. Preparing a will is only one part of the estate planning process. When you are preparing your will, you need to decide whether or not a no-contest… read more…
- How to File an Estate Probate Inventory
One of the essential steps in the probate process is filing an inventory of all the assets that are part of the estate. This job is the responsibility of the executor, and it’s often no small feat. It involves determining… read more…
- Probate Bonds in Estate Planning
Creating an estate plan means you have control over what happens to your assets when you pass away. Naming an executor is an important step, as that person will be responsible for settling your estate and distributing your assets to… read more…
- Naming an Estate as the Beneficiary of an IRA
When people pass away, their wealth is generally passed on. In the case of passing on your individual retirement account or an IRA, you have two choices. You can name a beneficiary or multiple beneficiaries to receive the income from… read more…
- What It Means to Break a Trust
Breaking a trust refers to one party unilaterally dissolving a trust and distributing its assets, either back to the original donor or to the trust’s beneficiaries. This can only happen at the direction of the trust’s creator. If a third… read more…
- What Is the HEMS Standard in Estate Planning? Definition and Examples
The HEMS standard is used in estate planning to guide trustees in how and when they should release funds to a beneficiary. By including HEMS language in a trust, you can exert greater control over how the trust’s assets are… read more…
- What Are Siblings’ Rights After a Parent’s Death?
The death of a parent can be emotionally trying, especially if the passing was unexpected. It can also be a test of your patience if there are complicated estate issues to sort out. If you have siblings, for example, there… read more…
- How Long Does Probate Take?
If you own any property at all, you probably know about estate planning. You can decide what happens to your assets after you die, of course. But sometimes, people don’t pen a will or trust before they pass. Or, if… read more…
- What Is a Gift in Trust?
You’ve worked hard your entire life and you’re hoping to pass the fruits of your labor onto your children or grandchildren and not the Internal Revenue Service. If that’s the case, you may be interested in a gift in trust,… read more…
- How Much Does a Living Will Cost?
Confronting our health and what might happen to us someday is not an easy task. Even though estate planning is emotionally challenging, it’s a necessary step to protect yourself. Not only that, without any plans, your loved ones might face… read more…
- Estate vs. Trust: What’s the Difference?
Trusts and estates are the two main legal structures for transferring assets to your heirs and beneficiaries. Each works in critically different ways. Estates make a one-time transfer of your assets after death. Trusts, meanwhile, allow you to create an ongoing… read more…