Category Archives: Inheritance

Estate Planning Stuff

high-angle shot of a stall in a flea market full of bits and pieces

When crafting your estate plan, it is important to understand what you have and who you want to leave it to. But you may also want to speak with your beneficiaries before creating your plan to find out if the person you plan to give an item to wants the item, particularly if the item has storage or maintenance requirements that the person will be responsible for. 

Estrangement & Estate Planning

Concept of estrangement or discussion of couple, conflict relationship. Two characters made of matchsticks sad and sitting in the dark, one away from the other.

A husband may move out of the home he shared with his wife and have limited or no contact with her or their children. An abused child who lives with a relative may avoid contact with their parent. A parent may choose not to associate with a child who has committed crimes or abused their trust. These types of situations are unfortunate and occur more often than we would like. Limited contact, or even the absence of any contact, fails to majorly impact the legal right of an estranged spouse or child to inherit from their family member. This is especially true if no estate plan expresses an intention to disinherit them.

Overcoming Estate Planning Nightmares

scared woman hiding behind blanket in bedroom at home

The key to ensuring that your estate plan will work the way you envision is understanding that how you own your money and property (i.e., how title is held) determines whether your will or trust, or neither, controls who will receive that money and property.

Batman: The Masked Philanthropist

Tambov, Russian Federation - July 29, 2018 Portrait of Lego Batman minifigure against LEGO gray baseplate background.

Bruce Wayne possess something key to moonlighting as Batman: money. Heir to an enormous fortune, Wayne emerges as one of Gotham’s wealthiest citizens. A major philanthropist who donates money to various causes, neither role would work without assets.

A Blind Trust: What is it?

blind trust word or concept represented by wooden letter tiles on a wooden table with glasses and a book

The beneficiary of a blind trust also has no knowledge of what goes on with the trust. However, in most cases, the trust-maker is also the beneficiary. That is, the trust contains their personal money and property, and the trustee manages that money and property for the benefit of the trust-maker-beneficiary—the trust-maker-beneficiary just has no knowledge of, or control over, the activities of the trust.