The Continuing Care Community Trap
Continuing Care Puts Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Into Probate Continuing Care Communities make sense for people who want to live independently now and have additional levels of care available later if they need them. But there’s a very specific estate planning problem that arises when someone enters one of these communities, and if it […]
What Happens to Your Business When You Die?
Business owners spend years building something valuable. They create systems, develop customers, hire employees, pay vendors, buy equipment, sign leases, open accounts, and hopefully build something that has value beyond just the income it produces from month to month. But one of the most important questions often gets ignored: What actually happens to that business […]
What Happens to Your Retirement Accounts When You Die?
“What happens to your retirement accounts when you die?” My first answer would be another question: What do you want to happen? That may sound like I am avoiding the question, but I am not. Retirement accounts are different from many other assets because they generally do not pass according to your Will. Instead, what […]
Is Your Trust Really Doing What You Think It Is?
I recently met with a prospective client who told me he really didn’t need estate planning. He already had a trust prepared by an attorney in another state; that attorney was “fantastic,” and he had been assured by that attorney that his trust was fine. What he wanted was much simpler: he just needed North […]
Sneaky Lawyer Tricks That Drain Your Estate Plan
When people hire an estate planning attorney, they’re trying to make things easier for their family. They want to avoid probate when possible, reduce court involvement, keep costs under control, and make sure the people they choose can carry out the plan without unnecessary delays or confusion. That is what estate planning is supposed to […]
Don’t Let Life Insurance Wreck Your Trust
Life Insurance Beneficiary: One of the biggest mistakes I see with revocable living trusts doesn’t happen when the trust is drafted. It happens later, when someone changes how an asset is titled or changes a beneficiary designation without realizing that they may be undoing part of the estate plan. A trust can be drafted perfectly, […]