For most parents, leaving your children inheritances through your estate plan is a natural choice. However, if you have children who are married, or who may become married, you will need to consider the possibility that those children may get divorced. When this happens, what happens to an inheritance you leave your child? The answer depends largely on the state in which you live. Usually, inheritances that a child receives from a parent are considered separate property under the law. However, … [Read more...] about When Planning Inheritances, Think About Child Divorce
Estate Planning
Middle Class Estate Planning
Many people who read about estate planning become convinced it’s a matter that only the rich need to think about. After all, estate tax considerations only kick in if your assets exceed the estate tax exclusion. For the rest of us, those middle-class people who can’t count themselves amongst the numbers of millionaires in the nation, is estate planning even necessary? Yes. There are a number of legal choices that only an estate plan can answer, and only you get to make those decisions. Even … [Read more...] about Middle Class Estate Planning
Two Questions about Spiritual Estate Planning
The Baby Boomers are retiring in droves and many are beginning to draft their estate plans. As they do so, many are engaging in a practice known as “spiritual estate planning.” If you have never heard of spiritual estate planning before and would like to know more, you should find the following questions and answers to be informative. What is spiritual estate planning? Spiritual estate planning is when someone decides how they want to devise their assets based upon their morals and personal … [Read more...] about Two Questions about Spiritual Estate Planning
Inheritance Laws as Old as Human Civilization
While you set about to making a last will and testament, deciding what kind of trust to establish, and making other estate planning decisions, you probably have not taken a lot of time to think about where our inheritance laws come from. But trying to figure out what should happen to a person’s property after that person dies has been an idea that humanity has tried to answer for as long as recorded history. The earliest ancient Mesopotamian civilizations had already established some quite … [Read more...] about Inheritance Laws as Old as Human Civilization
If You’ve Recently Moved, Consider Changing or Updating Your Will
As a general rule of thumb, you need to review your estate plan any time you experience a major life event or a change in circumstances. One of these key life events, moving to a new state, should prompt you to review at least your last will and testament, if not everything else. There are both practical and legal concerns you will need to consider if you created a will in a different state and have since moved to a new one. Issue 1: Where are your representatives? As part of creating … [Read more...] about If You’ve Recently Moved, Consider Changing or Updating Your Will
FAQ about a Notice to File Claims in Probate
When we die, the estate that we leave behind goes through a process known as probate. It is during this process that any outstanding debts one may have owed will have a chance to be satisfied from his or her estate. In other words, the executor of an estate (i.e., the person responsible for “wrapping up one’s estate”) has a duty to try and take care of any outstanding debts, but, in order to do so, the executor or must have notice of that outstanding debt. 1. How do I let the … [Read more...] about FAQ about a Notice to File Claims in Probate
DIY Estate Planning: the How-to Guide for Making Life Even Harder for Your Survivors
Do-It-Yourself (“DIY”) estate planning is enjoying a bit of popularity right now, especially with the economy being so rough. This is only natural; after all, who doesn’t want to save a buck wherever they can? Saving money is understandable, even laudable, but trying to do it with your estate plan is just asking for trouble. Imagine that a relative of yours needs to have a complex surgery performed, and that the outcome of that surgery would determine whether that relative’s family will be … [Read more...] about DIY Estate Planning: the How-to Guide for Making Life Even Harder for Your Survivors
Commonly Used Estate Planning Trusts
Living Trusts Anyone who creates a trust is known as a grantor, or alternately, a settlor. When grantors create living trusts they do so while they are still alive, as opposed to creating the trust through the terms of their Wills. Living trusts are very popular because the grantor maintains the right to change the terms of the trust, making it a revocable trust. Once that grantor dies those terms then become permanent and the trust becomes an irrevocable trust. Living trusts can be used both … [Read more...] about Commonly Used Estate Planning Trusts
Why Escheat Matters
The term escheat refers to the transfer of title to the state of a person’s property when the owner of the property dies without a valid Will, called intestate, and is not survived by any heirs legally entitled to take the property without a valid will. An applicable heir may be a spouse, descendants, parents, grandparents, descendants of parents, children or grandchildren of grandparents, or great-grandchildren of grandparents, or as otherwise set forth by each state’s escheating laws. Real … [Read more...] about Why Escheat Matters
Powers of Attorney in New York – 3 Key Variables
Variable 1: What types of powers does the power of attorney convey? Powers of attorney typically allow someone else to make one of two types of decisions: either financial or health-care related. Financial powers of attorney are used to give someone else the ability to manage your bank accounts, bills, as well as your ability to enter into new agreements. Healthcare powers of attorney, on the other hand, allow another person or organization to make health care decisions, such as what kind of … [Read more...] about Powers of Attorney in New York – 3 Key Variables
