Estate Planning

By having a will and possibly other estate plan documents, you can help ensure that your family will receive your assets as you intend after you’re gone. That’s just one of the many benefits of having a clear, detailed, legally sound estate plan. If you put your will...

A financial power of attorney is a legal designation that allows you to name someone else to take care of financial affairs on your behalf, usually in the event that you are incapacitated due to injury or illness and cannot manage your affairs on your own. The person...

Your estate plan might not be top of mind as you consider or prepare for divorce – but it should be. You’ll likely want to make multiple changes to it as you and your spouse end your marriage. The timing of these changes, however, requires some planning. You will also...

A will ensures your loved ones are well taken care of when you die. With it, you can state your wishes, from how to distribute assets to naming who will execute it. However, you should be careful when creating a will for it to be legally binding. The following are...

The importance of having an estate plan cannot be stressed enough. The instruments that you include in your plan can provide your loved ones with an inheritance after you pass. You can also ensure that your healthcare needs and financial interests are looked after...

As you start developing your estate plan, one of your top priorities may be leaving money to help fund your grandchildren’s college education. Some people start doing this before their grandchildren are even born. However, if you have one or more already in the world...

Despite your best intentions, you may recognize that you have a relatively high-conflict family situation. Maybe you currently share custody of your children with your ex, and you can easily imagine them using your children's inheritance out of spite if anything were...

Strictly speaking, estate planning is important for everyone. Regardless of age or gender, creating an estate plan can be helpful, and it is a step that too many people overlook. This includes both women and men, so each gender needs to learn as much as they can about...

Creating a will is a popular form of estate planning. However, it has its vulnerabilities, particularly being prone to will contests. A will contest involves a trial where heirs, power of attorneys and/or executors dispute the validity of a will.  It’s important to...

It is common for people to employ a very simplistic approach to estate planning. They think about how they will distribute their personal resources after they die and arrange for the descent of their property in the simplest manner possible. However, the best estate...