Is Your Estate Plan as Stale as Last Week’s Ham Sandwich?
5 Reasons to Update Your Estate Plan Estate plans are almost magical: they allow you to maintain control of your assets, yet protect you should you become incapacitated. They take care of your family and pets. And, if carefully crafted, they reduce fees, taxes, stress, and time delays. Estate plans can even keep your family
Read More...
Will BREXIT change my estate planning needs?
Market volatility is a constant in our modern world. But so-called Black Swan events sometimes take the concept of volatility to the next level. On June 23, voters in the U.K. passed a referendum supporting the idea that Britain should leave the European Union. Known as 'Brexit' for short, this surprising political outcome instantly plunged
Read More...
Top 5 Reasons to Protect Your Retirement Accounts
While you are alive the money in your retirement account enjoys a special status. We call that status asset protection. This means the money is immune from lawsuits and creditor claims which may or may not be fair. The great thing about your retirement accounts is that you can pass any unspent money to your
Read More...
Keep Your Creditors Away From Your Retirement Plan
Don’t Put Your Creditors on Your List of Heirs. This is really surprising, most people think if you leave a retirement account to your spouse is protected from creditors; it probably is not. The funds from the retirement account could be taken in a divorce, lawsuits or bankruptcy. Three paths for surviving spouses When you
Read More...
3 Simple Ways to Avoid Probate
3 Simple Ways to Avoid Probate Costs The bad news: probated estates are subject to a variety of costs from attorneys, executors, appraisers, accountants, courts, and state law. Depending on the probate's complexity, fees can run into tens of thousands of dollars. The good news: probate costs can be reduced by avoiding probate. It’s really
Read More...
Disinherited Spouse? Maybe, Maybe Not
So, you want to disinherit your spouse? Maybe you can, maybe you can’t. In most of the United States, it is not easy to disinherit your spouse. The same is not true for other family members. Most of the time you can use your estate plan to disinherit brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews or even your
Read More...
South Dakota is a Great Place to live
Some States Have Skyrocketing Probate Fees – Reasons to Love South Dakota but You Still May Wish to Avoid Probate Court Be thankful if you do not live in Connecticut, do not own property in Connecticut and do not plan on moving to Connecticut. On July 1, 2015, the Connecticut probate court gained the distinction
Read More...
Seven Reasons Why Your Best Friend or Your Relative May Not Make a Good Trustee
When you create any trust, in particular a trust designed to last decades into the future, finding the right trustee is of paramount importance to the trust’s longevity and ultimate success. At first blush, one may believe that a family member, a sibling, “Uncle Bill” to your children (who are the initial beneficiaries to your
Read More...
How Will the 2015 Supreme Court Decisions Affect You and Your Family
Of the thousands of cases appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court each year, only 75 to 80 are actually heard by the Court. Of those cases, only a select few get the attention of the media. Below is a summary of the three important decisions hand down by the Court in 2015 that could affect
Read More...
Five of the Most Expensive States for Retirees in 2015
There are many things to consider when deciding where you are going to retire. Economic factors that will affect your nest egg may be the most important. Why? It may be that things like low crime rate and beautiful weather come at a very high price. The price may be more than you are willing
Read More...