Routine changes and updates to our laws are only one reason you should be reviewing your estate plans regularly with your attorney. There are numerous ways an estate plan can fail without regular ‘maintenance’ checks:
Archive | Estate Planning
The Terrible Surprise of an Empty Trust
You do the grown-up thing. You get to your attorney and work out your estate plan. You decide it makes sense to create a trust (here’s a quick review of the difference between a WILL and a TRUST…). You sign all the documents. Your attorney gives you a shiny, leather-like binder, makes you promise to […]
Make Sure Your Will is Not ‘Mad-Libbed’
The proliferation of online estate planning tools may give you the sense that your will consists of a whole list of blank spaces, into which your attorney inserts names of your choosing, and out spew your legal documents. Like a fancy, binding game of Mad Libs. The reality is – your will, and the process […]
Avoid These 3 Mistakes When Creating Your Estate Plan
There are a few very important roles to fill, and you can learn more about them in this quick how-to guide, Finally Get Your Will Done. But in this article, I want to talk about how to pick your team, and the common places people get stuck in the process. The most common Get-Stuck point […]
Goals First, Solutions Second
Estate planning is not a one-size-fits-all exercise. It’s not even a one-size-fits-most. This is how most people think estate planning goes: You meet with an attorney. They take an inventory of your family and your stuff. They hand you a big pile of documents based upon your inventory. Then they send you the bill. No […]
You’ll Get More Done When You “Know Your Why”
Humans are the only species conscious of our own mortality. And let’s face it, no one wants to contemplate mortality! If you’ve been putting off planning for your death and other awful circumstances (or know someone who has) this is probably one of the biggest underlying reasons. Who wants to schedule the hours into their […]
How Long Has it Been Since You…
The challenge with family legal planning, or estate planning as they call it, is that it relies on a plan that protects your family at an unknown time, under unknown laws, utilizing unknown assets for an unknown family situation to accomplish unknown goals. And while we don’t know when you’ll need it, we know your […]
When Your Trust Owns Your Home: What Happens Next
So, you’ve set up a trust because you want to keep things as simple as possible for your family, and allow your house to pass to your children upon your death without any delay. Now that your trust owns your home, here are some things you should know.
How NOT to Lose All Parental Rights to Your College Kid
We’re just checking in here, because some things are worth repeating. Did you read the last article? It’s an important one, even though you may have brushed it aside the first time. We totally get it. You have a healthy new adult child off to college for the most amazing, memorable four years he or […]
Three “Must Haves” Before Kids Go to College
Have you noticed that time moves a LOT faster than it did when we were younger? We’re already more than half-way through the year and summer is flying by so fast we’re expecting the leaves to change color any day now. Meanwhile, your kids are entering adulthood whether you’re ready or not. Keep reading to know […]