Parents who remarry embark upon a big new adventure. Ideally, they will have a wonderful and fruitful marriage with the kids mixing it up like the Brady Bunch. But while a new love and an expanded family are now a fact of life, it is smart for you and your spouse to...
Estate Planning
Estate planning involves more than writing a will
Many assume that drafting a will covers all a family's estate planning needs. While a will is an integral part of the plan, experts recommend using additional estate planning tools. These can help better ensure that the estate is transferred smoothly and effectively...
How to hold title so that your home won’t pass through probate
Real estate holdings may represent the biggest individual assets that you have. The people that you love may have a significant interest in maintaining their ownership or residency in the home that you currently inhabit even after your death. Complications with your...
What assets can you use to fund a trust for your estate plan?
Some people think of trusts as tools only used by the super-rich in order to keep their family members from wasting their inheritance or to avoid paying taxes. While there is no question that a trust can offer substantial benefits for wealthy individuals planning...
Children of all ages can benefit from a trust in your estate plan
Estate planning requires that you address the current conditions in your family while also considering how things could potentially change in the future. One of the ways that you could create a more flexible estate plan that offers the maximum potential protection to...
Who should be the executor or administrator of your estate?
When you sit down to create an estate plan or write out your last will, you will have to make a number of difficult decisions. Deciding who should get what from your estate is only the first of many difficult questions you need to answer when creating a last will or...
Have you planned to transfer business ownership in your estate?
Whether you are the third generation of your family running a business or you started it yourself, the company probably has significant financial and emotional value to you. It is common for business owners to have strong preferences about who will inherit the...
Biggest myths about wills
Writing a will can leave people asking many questions and oftentimes, they have no clear answer whatsoever. Over the years, society has instilled a series of ideas that people hold true about wills and it is important to see them as myths and not so much as facts. It...
When to update your estate plan
Maybe you made an estate plan when your first child was born years ago, and you haven’t thought much about it since. Since then, your life has changed a lot. You have three more kids, started a new business and got divorced. While you may not have realized it, your...
What to consider as a business owner when estate planning
As a business owner, your estate plan is a little more complicated than others. Your business is a huge asset and it’s important that you address what will happen to it after you are gone. Will your business continue? The first thing you must consider is if you want...