Making sure you have a truly effective estate plan in place requires a good bit of attention to detail. In a recent Investing Daily post, Bob Carlson points out some important planning issues that tend to be overlooked. For example: Lack of Liquidity. While an estate is being settled, it incurs operating expenses. If you don’t provide a plan for covering these expenses, your heirs could be shortchanged. Many estates are full of non-liquid assets, but they tend to run short on cash. If this … [Read more...] about Is Your Estate Plan Complete?
Estate Planning
Safeguarding Your Estate Planning Documents
When it comes to paperwork you need to keep safe and secure, your estate planning documents are at the top of the list. So, where’s the best place to keep them? While there is no single answer to this question, there are some things you’ll want to consider when choosing a storage location for these important papers. For instance: Where will your documents be protected from theft and from the threat of flooding, fire, and other natural disasters? Where’s the best place to keep your documents … [Read more...] about Safeguarding Your Estate Planning Documents
Why Do I Need An Estate Planning Attorney?
A lot of people wonder what the big deal is about estate planning attorneys. After all, can’t any lawyer draw up a will? Technically, yes; but you probably need an estate planning attorney for anything more than a very simple will. And that’s the thing: you probably need more than a simple will. So, the first question really is, “Why do I need an estate plan?” A solid estate plan can help you accomplish all kinds of things beyond just passing on your assets through a will. It can help you … [Read more...] about Why Do I Need An Estate Planning Attorney?
Why You Should Update Your Estate Plan
Preparing an estate plan is not a one-time event but the beginning of a ritual that you should carry out on a regular basis. From the time you plan your estate till the day you die, only one thing remains constant: change. Your circumstances will inevitably change over a period of time, making the previous plan out of date. In fact, there are several reasons you might want to update your plan: Your marital status has changed. You have either married since the time you last made an … [Read more...] about Why You Should Update Your Estate Plan
Understanding the Estate Planning Process
The idea of planning your estate might seem a little intimidating at first but it actually follows some very basic logic: you have assets and you want to determine what happens to those assets after you die. To do this, you make a plan – an estate plan – that not only lists your assets but also specifies who they should go to when you pass away. Your plan can consist of a number of different legal documents, including a Will, one or more trusts, powers of attorney and healthcare directives to … [Read more...] about Understanding the Estate Planning Process
Basics of Property Ownership
How you own property can affect how your estate is distributed to your heirs after you die. With that in mind, let’s see how property ownership affects estate planning: Type I: Sole Ownership This sort of property is owned entirely by you, with no other person having any rights to the property. You can identify that a property is owned by a single person if the deed has words to the effect: "Jason, a single man" establishes title as sole ownership. Property owned by an individual can be … [Read more...] about Basics of Property Ownership
