Category Archives: Estate Planning
Draft Your Trust Instrument Wisely to Prevent Trustee Drama
“Irrevocable” is a scary word. Many seniors establish revocable trusts to keep their property out of probate, even though a revocable trust does not carry the tax benefits that an irrevocable trust carries while the grantor is alive. As the grantor of a trust, you write the trust instrument, and then the trust functions… Read More »
How to Stop Your Spouse From Inheriting From You
Disinheriting your relatives is easy, in theory. When a deceased person’s estate goes through probate, the decedent’s will is the most authoritative document in determining who inherits what. If a family member believes that the testator disinherited him or her unfairly, or that the decedent wanted the family member to receive an inheritance, contrary… Read More »
Golden Romance Is an Act of Estate Planning
When young people fall in love, there are monsters lurking in the shadows. Which monsters you fear the most depends on your own situation and those of people you know. Some people fear teen pregnancy, followed by a lifetime of financial stress and co-parenting conflict with your ex, your parents, and eventually your own… Read More »
Is Running Out of Money During Retirement a Fate Worse Than Death?
When you are young, everyone wishes you a long life, as though simply making it to an advanced age is a win. Once you are on the other side of 50, though, the realities of old age set in. How much longer will your old bones be able to get through a day’s work,… Read More »
Be Proactive Instead of Reactive About the Medicaid Five-Year Lookback Period
When you are gainfully employed, you probably only think about publicly funded healthcare programs in the most general of terms. You might think that Medicare is for seniors, but Medicaid is for children and for disabled adults of working age, who will presumably switch to Medicare when they turn 65. There is more overlap… Read More »
Having a Plan for More Than Just Finances Can Protect You From the Retirement Curse
Most of us take comfort in the fact that our circumstances will change substantially at some point in the future. We only have to suffer in the heat, paying more than we can afford for air conditioning, until the summer ends. Eventually, we will grow up and move out of our parents’ house, even… Read More »
Can You Have a Better Retirement Than Your Parents?
Some of the online content about achieving better financial circumstances is manipulative, and some of it is downright mean-spirited. It might play on your wishes to buy your mother a house that she can decorate to her own tastes after she spent your entire childhood living in rented accommodations, spending all her time off… Read More »
Questions to Ask Before Agreeing to Be the Grantor of a Family Member’s Trust
A trust, revocable or irrevocable, is a non-probate asset. This means that it does not become part of the grantor’s estate when the grantor dies, so probate proceedings do not affect the trust or its property. This means that the court is not involved in the daily operations of the trust. The courts do… Read More »
Questions to Ask Before Agreeing to Be the Grantor of a Family Member’s Trust
A trust, revocable or irrevocable, is a non-probate asset. This means that it does not become part of the grantor’s estate when the grantor dies, so probate proceedings do not affect the trust or its property. This means that the court is not involved in the daily operations of the trust. The courts do… Read More »
Trust Disputes and How to Prevent Them
When you sign a trust instrument, you might do so with a smug smile, thinking that you are a classy person who has done a classy thing. While the nouveau riche drag their relatives’ reputations through the mud in probate court as they fight over their newly acquired fortune, you keep your generational wealth… Read More »