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.
Your Estate Plan is a “Dynamic Document”
Failing to ensure that your asset titling and beneficiary designations are coordinated with your estate plan, can lead to unintended costs, taxes and outcomes.
Include These Three Items in Your Will
A will or trust explains what you want to have happen to your assets when you die, hopefully in a very, very long time. While most people understand that a will explains what to do with money, property, and children, there are other parts you might be surprised by.
Should I Use a Trust to Protect My Children’s Inheritance?
We have approximately $1.5 million in cash and investments, mostly in Certificates of Deposit (CDs). Our mortgage is paid and we have no debt. We have three adult children. Should we put out assets into a trust to better protect them for the future?
Not a Billionaire? Trusts Can Still Be Beneficial
Even if your asset base doesn’t measure up to the Bill Gates standard, you may consider using trusts in estate planning. This is because they can help your heirs in many different ways.
Can I Add an Adult Daughter to the Title of a Home?
I have a house with a mortgage that I purchased a little over a year ago. At the closing, I asked if I could put my daughter on the deed with me. However, the mortgage company wouldn’t allow it. I don’t want her to have to go through probate, because this is my only asset. Is there a way I can leave the house to her, so she can sell it and pay off the mortgage?
Fixing an Estate Plan Mistake
Sometimes, despite best intentions and best efforts, an estate plan leaves unintended problems for heirs, trustees and others to solve. For example, a trust may have become outdated because of changes in tax laws, the birth or death of family members, or special circumstances like an heir’s disability.
Protecting Adult Children with Disabilities
Adults with disabilities are living much longer than in the past, which means their aging parents must plan for the day when their dependent children outlive them.
How Do I Incorporate My Business into My Estate Planning?
Running and owning a business is just like raising a child: Both are investments in the future, and both require a lot of time, resources and effort to raise successfully. One can argue that you would treat your business like you’d treat a child; you’d want it to succeed even after you’ve passed on or retired.