- Qualified Domestic Trust (QDOT): Marital Deduction
Trusts can be a useful tool for estate planning if you’d like to preserve assets for loved ones while minimizing estate taxes. A qualified domestic trust (QDOT) is a specific type of trust that can offer tax benefits for married… read more…
- Living Will vs. DNR: Key Differences and When to Use Each
When planning for the future, it’s common to think of what you’ll do with your estate and assets. However, there is more to consider than just your financial situation. You have to take into account your health and well-being, too.… read more…
- How Does an Estate Tax Marital Deduction Work?
Estate planning as an individual is complicated enough, but planning for it in a marriage can create greater difficulties. Working as a unified partnership for your joint estate’s future means that you both will have priorities you want to bring into… read more…
- Key Differences: Living Will vs. Last Will
Planning for the later years of your life is often an emotionally taxing experience. However, it’s often scarier to go into the end of our life without a plan. Of course, a plan requires the right legal documents. A living… read more…
- Key Differences: Living Will vs. Power of Attorney
Hard choices wait around every corner as you age, but some of the most difficult ones are about your own care. Without a plan in place, you might not be able to convey your wishes to those around you, leaving… read more…
- TotalLegal Review: Pros & Cons
TotalLegal is a company that offers consumers the opportunity to create quality legal documents for a variety of needs. For estate planning, the website allows users to create a last will and testament, power of attorney, living will and medical power of attorney. If you’re looking to begin the process of creating an estate plan… read more…
- FreeWill Review: What You Need to Know
FreeWill is an online estate planning tool that allows you to create or update a legally binding will. It offers products such as the ability to document funeral wishes, create a durable financial power of attorney, advance healthcare directives (living… read more…
- How to Make a Will for Free
Estate planning can be an overwhelming process, emotionally and mentally. The prices to work with a financial professional certainly don’t help either. These days, it’s possible to find free templates and do-it-yourself kits online that make estate planning more affordable.… read more…
- Breakdown of Estate Planning Costs
Estate planning costs vary, and the difference in fees can only add to the emotional challenges. It’s difficult enough to begin managing matters of death without confusion on top of that. These issues only create more stress when there is confusion… read more…
- Guide to the Washington, D.C. Estate Tax
Washington, D.C. does levy an estate tax on the estates of certain people after they have died. Specifically, the D.C. estate tax applies to any estate worth more than $4,254,800 in 2022. This is up from past years. The rate… read more…
- DoYourOwnWill.com Review: Pros & Cons
Online will-writing and estate planning platform DoYourOwnWill.com boasts features that cover a wide variety of will-related situations. Surprisingly, you won’t have to pay anything to take advantage of what the company offers. By the same token, DoYourOwnWill is relatively basic, and those with more complex estate planning needs may want to look elsewhere. DoYourOwnWill also doesn’t… read more…
- Trust & Will Review: Pros & Cons
Trust & Will is an online estate planning platform that allows you to create documents such as wills, trusts and guardianships. Trust & Will is available entirely online, so you won’t need to download software to your computer. Trust & Will is a great estate planning tool, as it combines a wide range of services… read more…
- Rocket Lawyer Review: Pros & Cons
One of Rocket Lawyer’s key strengths is its versatility; it allows you to create a wide range of estate planning documents beyond a basic will, making it a useful tool for those looking for a more comprehensive planning solution. However, it does come with a few important considerations. The platform offers a seven-day free trial,… read more…
- Quicken WillMaker & Trust 2025 Review
Quicken is already a popular personal finance company when it comes to tracking spending or getting a mortgage. However, the brand can also help you take care of your estate planning needs. Quicken WillMaker & Trust 2023 helps you put… read more…
- 7 Best Online Will Makers for 2023
A will is an important part of a basic estate plan and making one may be easier than you might think. Online will-maker software programs allow you to create a will on your own, often for less than what you… read more…
- How to Make a Living Will
A living will is a legal document that allows you to specify the kind of care you’d like to receive in end-of-life situations. This is different from an advance healthcare directive, though either one can be an important part of… read more…
- Can You Remove the Executor From a Will?
Creating a will is an important step in estate planning. A last will and testament is an important legal document that allows you to specify how you’d like your assets to be distributed after you pass away. You can also… read more…
- Guide to Estate Planning for Second Marriages
Getting married for a second time following a divorce or the death of your first spouse can feel like a fresh start. But it’s important to consider how joining your life with someone else’s may impact your financial plan, including… read more…
- Simple Trusts vs. Complex Trusts
A trust can be a useful estate planning tool, in addition to a will. You can use a trust to remove assets from probate, potentially minimize estate and gift taxes and ensure that assets are managed on behalf of beneficiaries… read more…
- What Is the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax?
Estate planning can help you pass on assets to your heirs while potentially minimizing taxes. When gifting assets, it’s important to consider when and how the generation-skipping tax transfer (GSTT) may apply. Also called the generation-skipping tax, this federal tax… read more…
- What Is Medicaid Estate Recovery?
Medicaid is a government program that can help eligible seniors pay for nursing home care. If you’re helping an aging parent navigate Medicaid because they don’t have long-term care insurance or you think you’ll need it yourself someday, it’s important… read more…
- What Is a Nuncupative Will?
Making a last will and testament is an important part of your estate plan and there are different types of wills to choose from. A nuncupative will, meaning a will that’s oral rather than written, may be an option in… read more…
- Per Stirpes vs. Per Capita in Estate Planning
When creating an estate plan, one of the most basic documents you may wish to include is a will. If you have a more complicated estate, you might also need to have a trust in place. Both a will and a trust can specify how you want assets distributed among your beneficiaries. When making those… read more…
- What Should I Do With a $50k Inheritance?
It’s not uncommon for people to receive sizable inheritances. But it’s less common for them to make the most financially advantageous decisions about what to do with their newly acquired assets. If you inherit a significant amount, such as $50,000,… read more…
- A Guide to Prenuptial Agreements in Florida
When a marriage ends in divorce in Florida, assets are likely to be divided approximately 50-50 according to the prevailing practice of equitable distribution. Florida couples wanting a more active role in deciding how marital property will be divided in… read more…