Where Is the Best Place to Store Your Original Estate Planning Documents?
Estate planning attorneys are often asked where original estate planning documents—wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives—should be stored for safekeeping. There is no right or wrong answer to this question.
4 Tips to Avoid a Will or Trust Contest
Fighting over provisions in your will or trust can derail your final wishes, rapidly deplete your financial legacy, and tear your loved ones apart. However, with proper planning, you can help your family avoid a potentially disastrous fight.
The Wrong Successor Trustee Can Derail Your Final Wishes
Your trust is intended to continue for years, so choosing the right succession of trustees is critical to its longevity and ultimate success.
Have a Harmonious Family that Does Not Fight? You Still Need an Estate Plan
When everyone is alive and happy, it is easy to think that nothing will break a family apart. Many people think that since everyone gets along, estate planning is unnecessary because everyone will look out for one another and do only what is fair. However, having a properly prepared estate plan is crucial. Failing to plan not only takes all the control out of your hands but can also leave hurt feelings and possible confusion over your true wishes. This confusion may force family members to pursue the only source available to resolve the misunderstanding: probate court.
Should I Include My Unborn Child in My Estate Plan?
Is there such a thing as being too prepared? If you do not have children at your death and your estate plan references a child who exists only in theory, it can present unnecessary complications.
Is It Time for an Annual Planning Retreat?
By reflecting on your successes and failures from the past year and your priorities moving forward, you can bring more intentionality to your life and make conscious choices, including estate planning decisions, that align with what truly matters to you—not just now, but in the long run.
Dower Rights: A Relic of the Past Still Affecting Estate Plans
From laws against selling doughnuts on Sundays to ordinances that prohibit tying a giraffe to a telephone pole, the annals of American jurisprudence are filled with archaic laws that, while still technically on the books, are rarely, if ever, enforced.
Notable Estate Planning Legislation
No matter the time of year, taxes are always a hot topic. While we usually think about taxes in terms of how they affect us today, it can be equally […]
How to Make the Next 100 Days Impactful
What comes to mind when you think of spring? Maybe it is blooming flowers, buzzing insects, singing birds, or the fresh smell of the earth after a rain. Your thoughts […]
President Trump’s First 100 Days in Office
President Trump entered office having won the electoral college and with relatively strong approval ratings. On his first day in office, he issued over 25 executive orders, and in his […]