If one of the spouses dies and passes on his or her assets in the last will, the estate will be heavily taxed before the beneficiaries ever receive it. Spouses looking to avoid this tax can set up an AB trust where they can each leave their assets to an irrevocable trust. What is an […]

While it is a touchy subject, dealing with the legal matters of aging loved ones is extremely important. Far too often people take on burdens that they shouldn’t have to and spend the final years with their relatives feeling their relationships crack and falter. One of the ways to prevent this is hiring an experienced

Estate planning is an essential aspect of managing your financial portfolio, and a living trust might be a preferable way to disperse some or all of your assets when compared to a will. If you are not familiar with living trusts, these are the top three benefits of putting your assets into one: Avoid Probate

Most people need to hire the services of an attorney only a few times in their lifetime. An attorney can be an excellent resource, especially for estate planning. However, most people do not do their estate planning until it is too late. Nevertheless, it is important to plan your estate wisely to make sure that

While most people don’t give much thought to estate planning, particularly if they are single and have no children, that is a big mistake. Whether you haven’t done so because you don’t want to consider your passing or just haven’t gotten around to it, it is important that you take the time to handle this

Whether you have minimal investments and an apparent heir or have accumulated a significant amount of wealth that you would like to distribute to your family or others, it is vital that you establish an estate plan. While singles and those without a lot of assets might think this unnecessary, doing so is an important

Several years ago, while administering a deceased client’s trust, I was closing out what I thought was her last account. As the financial representative and I concluded our telephone call, the conversation went something like this: Rep: “Now wait, what about this account?” Me: “Uh, what account?” Rep: “I see here that she has another

The first client I ever met with as a licensed attorney forever changed the way I thought about estate planning. The young lady had walked into my office with bowed head, shuffling feet, and closed lip. I thought she seemed a bit morose for one who was simply organizing her estate. I had purposely chosen

We have known since 2001 that the federal estate tax and generation-skipping transfer tax (GSTT) was scheduled for a one-year repeal beginning January 1, 2010, but few of us thought we would see that repeal actually take effect. Although most experts were confident that Congress would act to prevent the law from playing out, they

This has been a landmark year for estate planning. What a mess Congress has created! We are now in a year where there is no federal estate tax, but Congress has substituted another method of taxation that will collect more taxes from individuals and families than the estate tax. Additionally, as has been reported in