For many business owners, it’s a critical issue to make sure that business organizations including LLCs are properly structured. While many business owners have created revocable living trusts to articulate how their assets should be managed and to avoid probate, it’s a good idea that LLC interests are not put…
Articles Posted in Estate Planning
A Simplified Power of Attorney: Holding the “Short” Form Power of Attorney to its Name
The crisis brought by COVID has served as a stress test for many of the laws and regulations effecting our nation’s seniors. The power of attorney, a document that gives one person, the agent, the legal power to act for another, the principal, fills a dire need to put control…
California Court Decides Sonoma Trust Case
A Court of Appeals in California recently affirmed a trial court’s award of attorney fees to a trust. This decision came after the trust tried to enforce a conservation easement. The defendants in the case owned land and were accused of intentionally violating an easement. This case raises an important…
Should You Revise Your Estate Plan After Your Children Age?
Perhaps at the beginning of your marriage, you met with an estate planning attorney. If children have recently entered your life, however, it’s important to make sure that your estate plan contains various important details. This article reviews just some of the most key considerations that you must have if…
Lessons Learned from In Estate of Tillotson
In the recent Texas case of In Re Estate of Tillotson, the administrator of a deceased individual’s estate filed a motion to have the deceased individual’s husband turn over the deceased individual’s community property interest in several accounts. When the trial court granted the motion, the surviving spouse appealed. …
Advice on Selecting a Professional Trustee to Manage Your Trust
If you decide to create a trust as part of your estate plan, there are various tasks that you must successfully navigate including appointing a trustee who can oversee the trust. A trustee performs the critical task of both managing the trust and distributing assets in a manner that conforms…
Utilizing Asset Location While Estate Planning
Estate planning is a critical process in planning for your eventual death or incapacity. Unfortunately, however, too many people neglect estate planning or do the bare minimum. In reality, however, to make sure that your goals are achieved, it’s critical to treat estate planning seriously. This means engaging in activities…
Anticipating Potential Changes with Estate Planning
Senator Bernie Sanders recently introduced the “99.5% Act”, which is focused on the assets of the top 0.5% of wealthy Americans. This marks the first legislation introduced following President Joe Biden’s coming into office that would result in the lowering of the federal estate tax exemption. For many people interested…
3 Tips about Using Life Insurance In Your Estate Plan
Many people realize that life insurance can play a valuable role if someone unexpectedly passes away. What a much smaller group of people is that life insurance can play a critical role in estate planning because it can be utilized to provide liquidity when needed. With adequate estate planning,…
2 Estate Planning Issues for Business Owners
Business owners led hectic lives. Understandably, some things on business owner’s “To Do” lists end up getting delayed. Estate planning, however, should not be something that ends up postponed. Not only is estate planning critical for business owners, but some unique issues arise. This article reviews just some of the…