When you go through big life changes like births, marriages, divorces, and moving to a new state, you should review your estate planning documents periodically. Children grow up, marriages dissolve, property gets sold, and residences change. That’s why we recommend…
Children usually inherit money or property equally from their parents. But sometimes, parents intentionally choose to not leave anything to a child, and the reasons for doing so may vary. One reason could be that a child who is more…
Parents who are aging will often lose their ability to make informed and meaningful decisions regarding their lives due to cognitive decline. This growing inability may occur due to Alzheimer’s disease, other forms of dementia, mental illness, stroke, brain injury,…
Family members or friends may ask you to act as their power of attorney. Your person may be planning for when they might become unable to take care of their affairs. For example, they might become disabled or incapacitated, and…
You should know the lawyer's role as soon as you start the probate process, whether you are the executor or heir. One of the biggest sources of conflict in probating the estate is understanding the role of the lawyer hired…
You might think that leaving your property to your heirs would be simple enough. You make a will or a trust, you do a transfer-on-death deed for your real estate, you put your kids on your bank account, you designate…
For estate planning, wills and trusts offer specific and quite different advantages. Each state has specific laws and regulations governing these legal documents. You can have both a will and a trust; however, the information in each should complement the…
The advance health care directive, also known as a living will, is a legal document that specifies how you want medical professionals to act if you are unable to do so due to an accident or illness. A living will…
During the purchase of a timeshare in a holiday resort, the resort agent recommended that Mom and Dad sign a deed leaving the share to their children so that after their passing, the children could continue to enjoy it. It…
It has become more important than ever to have a will, a living will, and perhaps even a living trust as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Still, this knowledge is not translating into estate planning action.…