We’d like to share with our readers a recent article in Forbes entitled How To Write Your First Estate Plan. This article supports something we’ve been saying in our blog all along: That everyone needs a will—whether you’re a young couple just starting out, an established family with valuable assets to protect, or an entrepreneurial… Read More »
Posts Tagged: estate plan
Not Just Estate Tax Anymore
Anyone who has been following our blog knows that the expiring Bush tax cuts (including the repeal of the estate tax this year and the tax’s reinstatement next year) have given lawmakers no end of trouble as they struggle and debate—and debate and struggle—to agree on new tax legislation moving forward. In fact, The Wall… Read More »
The Comfort That Comes With Planning Ahead
Everybody thinks it won’t happen to them. Or rather, everybody knows it’s going to happen to them eventually, but nobody thinks it’s going to happen tomorrow, or next week, or even next year. The “it” of which I speak is, of course, death. It is this perceived immortality that allows so many people to put… Read More »
Heirs Pay the Price for a Do-It-Yourself Estate Plan
A recent article in U.S. News and World Report has brought the battle between professional estate planners and Do-It-Yourself document proponents out into the open. As author Kimberly Palmer points out in the article, lawyers believe Do-It-Yourself is dangerous when it comes to estate planning, and they will certainly tell you so when asked. But… Read More »
How To Choose Your Executor or Personal Representative
Serving as someone’s executor or personal representative under a Last Will and Testament can be a HUGE job, and may not be right for the faint of heart. Although nomination is commonly considered an honor, there is a lot of work involved, and an executor must have a great capacity for organization, attention to detail, the ability… Read More »
Recent Deaths Bring Home the Consequences of No Estate Tax in 2010
There was too much confusion to be much rejoicing when the estate tax was repealed for a year on January 1st, 2010. Although the words “no estate tax” may sound good, nobody really expected the state of affairs would last. Most experts believed that Congress would never actually let it happen in the first place;… Read More »
The Receiving End of Estate Planning
We publish a lot on this blog about preparing your estate plan: writing a will, setting up a trust, choosing beneficiaries and nominating guardians; but there is another side to estate planning, a fun side… the receiving end. You may assume that the receiving end of estate planning is the fun and easy part, but… Read More »
When and Why You Might Turn Down An Inheritance
Would you ever turn down an inheritance? Your first reaction might be “Of course not!” But don’t speak too soon. Most estate plans are created at least in part to protect heirs (generally spouses and children) from the sometimes devastating blow of estate taxes; but with the estate tax in a confusing state of flux… Read More »
The Importance of Being Earnest
Do you have a will or a trust? Has your will or trust been reviewed or updated in the past 3-5 years? If you answered yes to these questions then you are two steps ahead of 2/3 of the rest of Americans. But the next question is the big one: Does your family or executor… Read More »
Going Beyond Legal Language with an Ethical Will
Estate and Legacy planning documents are often seen as difficult, and boring pieces of paper—which in some ways is exactly what they have to be in order to someday withstand tough legal scrutiny; but unless you’re an attorney who is practiced at reading the sentiment between the lines of dry legal jargon, these documents don’t… Read More »