- How Does a QTIP Trust Work?
Creating a trust as part of an estate plan can help protect assets and ensure your financial legacy is preserved. If you’re married, you may consider establishing a QTIP trust, which is short for qualified terminable interest property trust. This… read more…
- Certificate of Trust: Estate Planning
When trusts are used as estate planning tools, financial institutions such as banks and brokerages may require written documentation of the trust’s existence before transferring assets into a trust or naming it as a beneficiary. However, they don’t need to… read more…
- Understanding Inheritance Theft Laws
Receiving an inheritance could provide an unexpected (or anticipated) financial windfall. There’s just one thing you may have to contend with – people attempting to steal what you’ve inherited. Inheritance theft is sometimes a very real problem for people who… read more…
- What Is a Bequest, and How Does It Work?
When a person uses a will to leave property to their family, friends or the causes they support, the act is known as a bequest. A bequest can be the cash, investments, jewelry or other items that a person passes… read more…
- Understanding How Disclaimer Trusts Work
When a spouse dies, the surviving spouse typically inherits all of the deceased spouse’s assets. However, this may not be the best approach based on the size of your estate or your tax situation. By using a disclaimer trust, the… read more…
- What Is Trust Decanting?
When you create an irrevocable trust, usually, the terms are set in stone. But what happens when you need to make adjustments due to significant life, law or personal changes? For example, let’s say your trustee is diagnosed with a life-threatening… read more…
- How to Deposit a Large Cash Inheritance
If someone close to you has died, the last thing you may want to talk about is money. However, in order to honor their final wishes, you’ll need to follow their will (if they left one) or potentially go to… read more…
- What Is a Sole Beneficiary?
One of the most important aspects of estate planning is choosing who you’d like to be your beneficiaries. A beneficiary is someone who is named to receive a financial gift from an estate or a specific asset, such as a… read more…
- Inheritance Rules for In-Laws
When someone passes away, whether unexpectedly or not, it can raise questions about who will inherit what. Specifically, you might be wondering whether in-laws have a right to any of the assets of the deceased person. The short answer is… read more…
- Online Trust Creation: Estate Planning
Online tools allowing anyone to create a trust without the help of an attorney can reduce the money and time consumed in estate planning. Living trusts are widely used in estate planning to avoid probate and reduce costs and delay… read more…
- What Is a Secondary or Contingent Beneficiary?
A secondary beneficiary, also called a contingent beneficiary, is a person or entity entitled to get a distribution of assets from an estate or trust after the estate owner’s death if the primary beneficiary is unable or unwilling to accept… read more…
- 5 Retirement Plan Beneficiary Mistakes to Avoid
Considering your eventual death and planning who will inherit your assets can be a difficult and uncomfortable task. In that process, though, it’s important to manage your retirement accounts and designate beneficiaries accordingly. Here are five retirement plan beneficiary mistakes… read more…
- Can Your IRA be Placed in a Trust?
A trust can hold many different assets, including your individual retirement account (IRA). Doing so can have benefits for you and your heirs, but it’s important to structure the trust properly. We’ll discuss how a trust works and what you… read more…
- What Estate Expenses Are Paid by the Beneficiary?
Settling an estate can be a complicated and sometimes time-consuming process. It’s the job of the executor to inventory assets, determine what expenses need to be paid and distribute the remainder of the estate to the deceased’s beneficiaries. If you’re… read more…
- Should You Name a Bank as Trustee of Your Trust?
A trust is an excellent way to bestow wealth, but disbursing money to your beneficiaries hinges on a crucial party: the trustee. Your trustee’s financial knowledge, discretion and accountability will influence how a trust impacts beneficiaries. These duties can be… read more…
- Estate as Life Insurance Beneficiary
When a loved one dies, there are a lot of questions you have to deal with, not the least of which is how to pay for a funeral and other death expenses. A life insurance policy could help, but the… read more…
- Middle-Aged Americans Aren’t Planning Their Estates. Here’s How to Fix That
Estate planning has become less of a priority for middle-aged adults, a new survey indicates. Americans between 35 and 54 years old are for the first time less likely to have a will than people ages 18 to 34, according to… read more…
- Is Life Insurance Part of an Estate?
Estate planning is one of the most difficult and important financial planning processes you’ll ever go through. It’s complex, and the bigger your estate, the tougher it gets. While creating your estate plan, you may find yourself wondering whether your life insurance… read more…
- Residuary Estate Definition and Example
When mapping out your estate plan, you may come across the term “residuary estate.” In simple terms, a residuary estate is any part of your estate that hasn’t been distributed to your heirs through a last will and testament. Also… read more…
- What Is a No-Contest Clause in a Will?
Estate planning can be complicated. You often need the services of a professional. Preparing a will is only one part of the estate planning process. When you are preparing your will, you need to decide whether or not a no-contest… read more…
- How to File an Estate Probate Inventory
One of the essential steps in the probate process is filing an inventory of all the assets that are part of the estate. This job is the responsibility of the executor, and it’s often no small feat. It involves determining… read more…
- Probate Bonds in Estate Planning
Creating an estate plan means you have control over what happens to your assets when you pass away. Naming an executor is an important step, as that person will be responsible for settling your estate and distributing your assets to… read more…
- Estate as Beneficiary of IRA
When people pass away, their wealth is generally passed on. In the case of passing on your individual retirement account or an IRA, you have two choices. You can name a beneficiary or multiple beneficiaries to receive the income from… read more…
- What It Means to Break a Trust
Breaking a trust refers to one party unilaterally dissolving a trust and distributing its assets, either back to the original donor or to the trust’s beneficiaries. This can only happen at the direction of the trust’s creator. If a third… read more…
- What Is the HEMS Standard in Estate Planning? Definition and Examples
The HEMS standard is used in estate planning to guide trustees in how and when they should release funds to a beneficiary. By including HEMS language in a trust, you can exert greater control over how the trust’s assets are… read more…