Our Estate Planning Blog
Estate planning is not only for the wealthy—everybody can benefit from ensuring their assets and finances are properly taken care of after their death.
The father of my three children died with no will. We were divorced. He owns a house and was married in the Philippines about two years ago. However, his new wife has not been given entrance to the U.S. What happens to his estate?
For couples over 50, living together has a lot of appeal and is on the rise. In fact, the number of unmarried couples who are 50+ shot up 75% between 2007 and 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
If you have an individual retirement account, do you recall filling out a beneficiary designation form? That’s the document that allows you to direct the IRA custodian to transfer your IRA to the people you name in the form.
Your will may be the most important document you’ll ever write. The problem is, after many of us draft one, we put it somewhere for safekeeping and don’t look at it again. That can be a big mistake.
The durable power of attorney is one of the most effective and important planning tools for medical care and estate planning, since it enables a person (the principal) to delegate certain powers to another (the agent) by means of a written legal document.
If the will does not specifically provide a bequest of the home and the will says everything goes 50/50 to you and your sister, then the executor has the right and responsibility to sell the home to carry out the bequest.
If you are single or are a widow or widower and will likely never return home after moving into a Medicaid certified nursing home, the house can be sold, and planning might be done with the proceeds of the sale.
Congratulations, you have finally signed your estate planning documents. Now, where do you keep them?
In past generations, families were very close, there were few estates that had any tax liability, and children respected their parents’ wishes, both before and after the parents passed away.