Category Archives: Estate Planning

When is the Probate Process Necessary?

The Probate Process in Estate Planning

Your estate attorney can set up joint ownership to create and transfer property. However, this solution comes with its own set of concerns. TOD and POD accounts efficiently and immediately transfer funds to the named recipient after the account owner’s death, outside of probate.

A Supplemental Needs Trust Protects Loved Ones

Special needs trust application with clipboard and notepad.

Most people think disability affects other people. However, approximately 61 million U.S. adults live with a disability. That translates to one in four adults. What’s more, between one and four 20-year-olds become disabled before reaching retirement age.

Electronic Wills

Digital Will Electronic

We live in an increasingly digital world now. And courts increasingly determine whether a will created and stored on a computer, tablet, or cell phone and e-signed meets the traditional requirements of being “in writing” and “signed by the will maker.”

Statements of Intent or Purpose

Letter of purpose or intent

The reasons a trust-maker creates a trust emerge as important. However, your intent or purpose for creating a trust imparts legal ramifications. Therefore, a trust-maker must express (in writing) their intent or purpose for creating the trust.

More About a Common Trust

Estate Planning Dividend

The trust created often leaves instructions to the trustee. In these, they note that older children earn an advancement from the common trust. They use this to pay for expenses such as buying a home or starting a business.