What Is the First Thing an Executor of a Will Should do?
At some point in your life, there’s a good chance you’ll be tasked with acting as the executor of an estate. The designation is both an honor and an obligation.
December 2, 2021
At some point in your life, there’s a good chance you’ll be tasked with acting as the executor of an estate. The designation is both an honor and an obligation.
One important aspect of estate planning is deciding what will happen to your home after you die. The answer might be fairly cut and dry if the home is fully paid for. If it’s not, though, you’ll need to consider the financial ramifications for your estate and for the person who inherits the home.
One of the biggest conundrums of estate planning is considering how, or even if, you can give money or property to your heirs in a manner that will help them.
Major changes in your life—such as marriage, having a baby, moving out of state, or divorce—should prompt a revisit to your current will. It is important to revise your will at these times, in order to ensure that your estate planning is up to date.
That last will and testament you have tucked away? It may not be the last word on what happens to your stuff after you are gone. Instead, that legal document’s directives for doling out your wealth may be overruled by other paperwork and relevant laws.
If you have not already been inundated with invitations to webinars, articles and newsletters regarding the estate planning you should consider doing before new legislation passes, you undoubtedly will receive these over the next few months.
In a nutshell, it might be better for your mom to put the home in a living trust that allows her to control the home while she is alive and allows you to inherit the home through the trust upon her death.
The probate process gets a bad reputation, but it’s the reality many families will face. It is a process that can function well for some small estates.
On the surface, the difference between revocable and irrevocable trusts couldn’t be any more straightforward. You can change your revocable trust whenever and however you choose. You can’t change your irrevocable trust at all.
With a draft bill from the House Ways and Means Committee on the table, all signs suggest that higher income taxes could be right around the corner. How they will affect charitable giving remains to be seen.