What are the Main Estate Planning Blunders to Avoid?

Maintaining a valid and current estate plan is vitally necessary in order to ensure the efficient and orderly dispersion of assets after a person dies. However, even a small mistake can create huge problems during the settlement process, and in many cases, these errors are impossible for anyone to correct.

What’s the Difference Between an Inter Vivos Trust and a Testamentary Trust?

Estate planning offers tools to establish and maintain effective control over cash, investments and real estate assets during a person’s lifetime and upon death. While wills and beneficiary designations work well to ensure that an estate plan meets the unique needs of the individual establishing the plan, each has its limits.

Do I Need to Be Wealthy to Set Up a Trust?

If you’ve heard of trust funds but don’t know what they are or how they work, you’re not alone. Many people know just one key fact about trust funds: they’re set up by the ultra-wealthy as a way to protect passing on significant sums of money to family, friends or entities (charities, for example) after they pass away.

What are the Penalty-Free IRA Withdrawals?

The contributions you make to your individual retirement account (IRA) are intended to supplement your income during your retirement years. However, as much as you’d like to let your IRAs remain untouched until retirement, unforeseen expenses may force you to withdraw some of those assets early.

Why Is Estate Planning more Complicated with a ‘Gray Divorce’?

Rising divorce rates among Americans over the age of 50 are causing more conflict in estate planning, new data shows. According to a recent survey by TD Wealth, up to 40% of financial planners say that rising gray divorce rates are leading to an increase in family strife with estate planning as the top conflict.

How Do I Revoke a Revocable Trust?

The basic steps involved in revoking a revocable trust are fairly simple and include the transfer of assets and an official document of dissolution.

What Should I Know about Property Deeds?

Property deeds are used to convey real property from a grantor (seller) to a grantee (buyer). For a deed to be legally operative, it must include the identification of the grantor and grantee, and the adequate description of the property.