Typically our pets have a shorter life span than we do. However, there is a possibility that you could become disabled or die before your pet, if that happens who will take care of your pets when you are no longer able to?
A trust is an agreement that you have with yourself that sets out the instructions for how your money will be managed both during your lifetime and after your passing. In many cases, individuals will benefit from having a trust, but not everyone needs to have one. However, the more you know about trusts, how they work and what their benefits are, the easier it is to understand if you need one or not. The following are common misconceptions about trusts.
Have you taken the steps to protect what matters in your life? Do you have a Will or a Trust? Do you have Powers of Attorney for Health Care or Property?
Often times when a relative dies it is not the financial assets that can break a family apart, it is the little things that cause the most animosity. Recently I read an article about an item that had caused…
When it comes to estate planning, wills and inheritance arrangements, it’s what most people DON’T know or do – celebs and non-celebs alike – that can cause the most harm. Although we don’t like to think of our own death or disability, these are a few lessons from Hollywood and throughout history where a little planning really could have gone a long way.
Digital assets are any file on your computer in a storage drive or website and any online account or membership (John Conner, Texas Tech University School of Law). If you have ever saved a file onto a computer, made an online account, or downloaded a song from iTunes, then you have a digital asset.
You are never too young for a Will. A will is a document that lets you tell the world who you want to get your assets. Die without one, and the state decides who gets what, without regard to your wishes or your heirs’ needs.
In the past, we’ve advised married clients to divide their assets between their revocable trusts in such a way as to “equalize” their estates. The reason for this was that we could not know who would pass away first and we wanted to be sure that each spouse could maximize his or her individual exemption allowed under the law. In December 2010, President Obama signed the new tax law to take effect for January 2011 through December 31, 2012, which provided that married couples could elect to combine their individual $5 million exemptions to a $10 million joint exemption for the couple, so that a surviving spouse could apply the predeceased spouse’s unused exemption upon the survivor’s death.
Clients often ask me whether they need a Will or not. Although the answer is different for everyone, I am a strong believer that not everyone needs a Will or even a Trust.
When clients come to my office to prepare an estate plan, we will meet initially to create the strategy and determine what the client wants in their plan, whom they want to provide benefit for and how.