The decision to create a will may occur because someone has a child or gets divorced. Frequently, changes to family circumstances or personal health may motivate someone to establish an estate plan. A will can be the cornerstone of a bigger estate plan or the only...
Estate planning is a nearly universal need that only a minority of people address. The majority of adults do not have an estate plan in place to control their property, protect their dependents and manage their care as they age. Even those who do have documents often...
A will is often the most important document included in someone's estate plan. Some people only ever put together a will and don't add any supplemental documents to their estate plan. Other people use a will as the foundation of their plan and add numerous other legal...
If you have a widowed or divorced parent who’s been postponing estate planning (even creating a simple will), you may feel like you have to literally take them by the hand to get them started. They may not have much to leave behind. You’d just like them to get their...
Just had a new child? Don’t yet have an estate plan? Then creating one is more urgent than ever. Here is why you need to focus on paperwork for a moment rather than your baby: Your child needs to be able to survive without you We don’t all get to die at a ripe old...
You drafted a will a few years ago, which is certainly an important step. However, the whole point of a will is that it reflects your current wishes and brings them to fruition should something happen to you. Many people fall into the trap of drafting a will and...
Life comes with its share of uncertainties. One of the uncertainties of life is the inability to tell what will happen in the future. If you are incapacitated following an accident or develop a condition that inhibits your ability to make important decisions on your...
You’re happily married, but children have never been on the radar for you. As a result, you’ve put estate planning on the backburner. You assume that everything will automatically go to your spouse if you predecease them. Is this really the case? Is estate planning...
While doing your estate planning, you hear plenty of stories about heirs who start will contests and end up in legal disputes with their siblings. You don't want that to happen to your family, so you consider adding a no-contest clause to the estate plan. Essentially,...
When you're making an estate plan, you look at all of the assets that you have and you divide them between your heirs however you choose. You can put money in a trust, you can leave the money directly to an heir or you can use some combination to set up a plan that...
