Articles Posted in Estate Planning

It may seem odd to ask young parents to think about estate planning, but starting a family is actually the perfect reason to address some really important questions. After all, becoming a parent isn’t just about choosing names and picking out nursery colors. It’s about being wholly responsible for someone else—a child—for life.

While it’s difficult to even contemplate the unthinkable, it’s imperative that new parents plan for every possibility to ensure that their children are protected, cared for, and financially secure.

Since it may be a while since you traveled this road, here is an overview of the estate planning details young parents should address.

We spend our lives doing everything we can to provide for our loved ones. We work hard to make sure they have the material, emotional, and financial resources they need to feel secure and cared for.

We do whatever we can to help them achieve their goals.

But, life can be unpredictable; and you can’t plan for every potential eventuality. Life insurance provides a means by which you can preserve your family members’ well-being and ensure their ability to pursue their dreams.

And yet, many people choose not to purchase life insurance. Go figure! Continue reading

So you’ve decided a living trust is appropriate for you. You’ve met with your attorney, made all the decisions about how you want any money in the trust to be spent, you’ve signed the document and placed it in a safe place.

But you’re not done.

Funding your revocable living trust is just as important as setting up your trust in the first place.

You know about Wills – hopefully you have one! You probably are also familiar with other estate planning documents such as a power of attorney and an advance health care directive.

But do you know what a trust is? Do you know what purpose it serves?

And…should you have one?

So someone, in his or her estate plan, has asked you to be their trustee. What does this mean? What are the responsibilities of a trustee?

A large part of the word “Trustee” is TRUST. If someone trusted you enough to choose you as the trustee of his or her property, it’s quite an honor. It’s also a big responsibility. What does a trustee do?

Maybe this is the first time you’ve ever been asked to administer a trust and you’re not sure what’s involved. If it’s a simple trust, your job could be finished in about six months, once the trust assets have been distributed to the beneficiaries. Continue reading

Assigning and updating beneficiary designations for your retirement plans, life insurance policies, and annuities are tasks that notoriously get ignored. While the process itself is usually pretty straightforward — putting someone’s name on a form — the consequences of your choice can be fairly substantial. Don’t wait any longer!

Who to choose as beneficiaries

You can name any of the usual suspects as a beneficiary — your spouse, children, or other relatives. You can also name friends, trusts, charities, and even various institutions like colleges, universities, libraries, and so forth.