Thinking about death, especially your own death, can be uncomfortable. Add to that the issue of what will happen to our assets after our deaths and it’s little wonder why so few people have created wills and other estate planning…
The probate process is the legal process that occurs after someone passes away. Probate is a complex, lengthy, and expensive process, but estate planning can mitigate unwanted risks by anticipating possible issues and preventing them before they occur. Sound estate…
Probate is a standard legal procedure that formalizes how some assets pass from a deceased person to his or her chosen heirs or beneficiaries. Whether or not you require probate depends on the type of property and how you own…
Legally, probate is the process of authenticating the will of a deceased person, reviewing their assets, paying their debts and taxes, and distributing their remaining assets to their heirs. After an asset-holder dies, the court will appoint a valid will's…
Disputes concerning guardianships and conservatorships, wills, trusts, and family real estate may be part of probate litigation. The most successful approach to mitigating or avoiding probate litigation risk is carefully planning for the future. Comprehensive estate plans that are routinely updated,…
Legal officials, such as probate judges, process a decedent's will through probate. While state probate laws may vary, the general process is quite similar across the country. Probate is the process of proving wills for decedents’. A probate judge will…
Revocable and irrevocable trusts are the two most common trust types for estate planning. While there is some similarity, these two major categories of trusts have different purposes in your estate plan. Both can substitute for a last will and…
No matter where we live, what our income, what political views we hold, all of us face the prospect that we are growing older in a world that is constantly changing. Navigating this changing economic and cultural environment can create…
As Yogi Berra supposedly said, “It’s hard to make predictions, especially about the future.” Yet when you create a trust for your heirs you have little choice but to make predictions about what their needs will be many years down…
A living trust is a written document that creates a form of ownership in which assets originally owned by the grantor of the trust are legally re-titled in the name of a trustee (who can be the same person as…