The Supreme Court of Montana recently affirmed a judgment by the district court distributing assets from a trust established by a husband and wife to the couple’s three children. The district court had interpreted the trust creator’s handwritten codicil as a wish and not a specific bequest of the…
Losing a parent is not easy. While being prepared for the event might not make the emotional aspect any easier, it can help to eliminate the potential for additional problems. As a result, this article reviews some of the important financial steps that you can take after a parent passes…
Creating a living will is one of the areas of the estate planning that many people overlook. These documents, which are also sometimes referred to as advance health care directives, describe what types of life-prolonging measure an individual would like if they are placed on life support. Among other…
The federal estate tax is a tax that is placed on a person’s estate after death. While many people are familiar with this general concept, they have a number of more specific questions about what the federal estate tax does and does not include. For one, many people…
Electronic wills have the option of providing a variety of important benefits to individuals who are interested in the estate planning process. Considering the tendency of many individuals to delay issues related to estate planning, electronic wills provide individuals with an opportunity to quickly create a legal document that decides…
Beginning with a list of your assets can be a simple way to begin estate planning. Unfortunately, statistics compiled by Caring.com reveal that more than half of Americans do not have a will. This is despite the numerous advantages offered by having a will which include avoiding potentially high legal…
Although passing an estate through probate can be an unnecessarily long and expensive process, it is usually an administrative task through which heirs receive their inheritance as the deceased saw fit to award. However, family dynamics can complicate the expediency at which executors are able to pass some estates through…
If you have assets that will likely appreciate in value, including property that provides income or stocks that demonstrate growth potential, there are ways you can plan accordingly to help you avoid severe tax consequences that might otherwise be related to retaining these assets or allowing them to become part…
When people begin the process of estate planning or take time to review their existing estate plan, they have many tax considerations to think about. How they distribute their assets will determine what taxes, if any, will apply to their estate. They may consider creating a trust for their children,…
Who you name as a trustee is possibly the most important decision that a person who decides to create a trust will make. The trustee is responsible for distributing income and principal to the beneficiaries of the trust according to the terms of the trust. This typically involves extensive recordkeeping,…