A trust is one of the most flexible and most powerful estate planning tools, and not just for avoiding unnecessary estate taxes. Many of the clients who come through our office choose to create trusts for other reasons as well; namely to protect their heirs from predators, creditors, and sometimes even from themselves. Sometimes a… Read More »
Posts Tagged: estate plan
Procrastination is Not a Planning Tool
The number one reason that people die without protecting their assets or their heirs is not that they lack the money to create an estate plan, and it’s not that they don’t know that they need one, or how to create one—It’s procrastination. Most people who die without an estate plan in place do so… Read More »
An Estate Plan Can Help “Keep the Peace” When Parents Remarry
Nothing, it seems, has the potential to cause a fight over inheritance quite like a second marriage. The Wall Street Journal’s SmartMoney magazine, in an article entitled Before Your Parents Say ‘I Do’ Again, says that poor estate planning (or even worse, no estate planning) can cause terrible damage to family relationships: “As Americans live… Read More »
“Mom, Dad… It’s Time for an Estate Plan”
So many clients come into our office, finish signing their estate plan, start to lean back with a sigh of relief only to sit straight up again and say “My parents really need to do this! I wish they would listen to me and come in to see you.” How can adult children persuade stubborn… Read More »
Estate Planning Lessons from Leona Helmsley
Hotel magnate and “Queen of Mean” Leona Helmsley has always been a figure of controversy, both in life and after her death in 2007. Reporters and bloggers went wild when she left $12 million dollars to her dog “Trouble” in a trust fund after her death. But that $12 million (later reduced to $2 million… Read More »
A Realistic Look at the Future
How are you feeling about your retirement these days? According to Chuck Jaffe’s article in MarketWatch most people’s answer to that question is not so good. According to Jaffe, Americans are losing confidence in the market’s ability to support their retirement (with good reason), and the most common reaction to this lack of confidence is… Read More »
Will You Leave A Gift—Or A Mess?
Do you consider yourself an organized person? It seems that when it comes to organization some people have the gift for it and some people simply don’t. If you’ve ever had (or have currently) the overwhelming job of sorting through the estate of a deceased loved one, you know how very grateful you can be… Read More »
The Fine Art of Informing Your Fiduciaries
At the end of the day, when all of the decisions have been made and documents have been signed, many estate planning clients still have one question: Should I tell my Fiduciaries that I’ve nominated them as executor, healthcare agent, guardian, trustee, etc; and how much should I tell them? The answer to the question… Read More »
The Consequence of Silence
The second annual National Healthcare Decisions Day is coming up on April 16, and there has never been more reason to consider what your own wishes are, and especially to make those wishes known. As difficult as it may be to think about the end of your parent’s, your child’s or your own life, not… Read More »
Prepare Your Heirs for Tough Times with an Incentive Trust
In these troubled financial times many parents are re-thinking the wisdom of passing on an inheritance with no strings attached. Parents and grandparents still want to help give their heirs a financial boost, but now they want to pass on something else as well—the value of resourcefulness and hard work. How often have you longed… Read More »