Just about every adult needs an estate plan, but few need one more than unmarried partners. Many people assume estate planning needs to be a priority only for those who are wealthy or have young children. Those are certainly important reasons to create an estate plan, but they are far from the only ones. The […]
For the first eighteen years of our children’s lives, you have the authority to make all major decisions for them, including financial and medical ones. So accustomed are you to this state of affairs, that it may not occur to you that when they wake up on their eighteenth birthday, the legal landscape has shifted. […]
If the phrase “estate planning for pets” calls to mind pampered heiresses with spoiled, fluffy dogs, or old ladies with wall-to-wall cats in their apartments, you probably think estate planning for pets is absurd or frivolous. But imagine for a moment the elderly widower whose dog has been a constant companion since his wife died, […]
Avoiding probate is a priority for many people when making their estate plans. Probate is the court-supervised process of identifying, gathering, and distributing a person’s assets after their death. While many states have simplified their probate procedures, going through probate can still be a time-consuming and costly process. Accordingly, most people try to keep assets […]
Will contests happen much more frequently in the movies than in real life, but when they do happen, they can cause great hostility and turmoil in a family, not to mention the expense of probate litigation that diminishes the assets in the estate. What is a “no-contest” clause in a last will and testament, how […]
Have you ever wondered, “How can I keep my estate plan private?” Probably not. But with the recent death of music legend Aretha Franklin, a revelation emerged: the Queen of Soul had no estate plan, not even a will. With multiple lawyers on retainer, and a life-threatening illness she had been fighting for years, it’s […]
If you are reading this article, it is likely that the question of whether to disinherit a child has been troubling you. Many considerations go into the question of whether you should disinherit your child. Perhaps your child has developed a drug or gambling problem, and you fear that leaving them money would simply feed […]
When you think of estate planning, you probably think of making plans for disposing of your property, and possibly of appointing a guardian for your children. Most people do tend to think of estate planning as something they do to make life easier for their family after they die. While that is certainly true, you […]
There are many reasons aging parents don’t talk to adult children about their inheritance. They may not want to their children by talking about their own mortality. They may fear that, if their adult children know an inheritance is coming, they will be less motivated to work hard themselves. And, of course, talking about money […]
If you’re like most people, it was a challenge for you simply to make it to the office of an estate planning attorney to make an estate plan. When you walked out the door, you were relieved, because you’d finally taken care of this obligation to your loved ones. The estate plan went in a […]
