Why You May Still Have to Open a Legal Probate Proceeding
Why You May Still Have to Open a Legal Probate Proceeding Probate is the legal process for recognizing the validity of a person’s will after their death and appointing the nominated ...
Three Tips for Overwhelmed Executors
Three Tips for Overwhelmed Executors While it is an honor to be named an executor in a person’s will, it can often be a sobering and daunting responsibility. Being an ...
Estate Planning for the Chronically Ill
Estate planning for the chronically ill There are certain considerations that should be kept in mind for those with chronic illnesses. Before addressing this issue, there should be some ...
Three Celebrity Estate Planning Mistakes and Tragic Lessons
Three Celebrity Probate Disasters and Tragic Lessons One would assume that celebrities with extreme wealth would take steps to protect their estates. But you know what they say about those ...
What Happens to My Spouse’s Debts at Their Death?
A spouse’s death creates a difficult and demanding time for the surviving partner. As much as you might want space and time alone to process your grief, you may have ...
Can a Trust Own My Business After I Die?
In general, the answer to the title question is yes, your trust can own your business after you die. However, there are a number of considerations that may impact the answer to this and the following questions. One consideration is the type of business interest you own. Is your business a limited liability company (LLC), a partnership, a corporation, or a sole proprietorship? Another consideration is how your business is managed. Is your business managed as an LLC, a partnership, or a corporation?
Three Steps to Take When the Deceased Has Controlled Substances
There are so many things to think about when a loved one passes away. What to do with the prescription drugs (or other controlled substances) that are in your loved one’s medicine cabinet is not usually at the top of that list. Yet, to avoid running afoul of laws governing their disposal, it is important to understand the proper procedures for disposing of a deceased person’s controlled substances.
Using Beneficiary/Transfer-on-Death Deeds
If you own real property, such as a home, in your sole name but you have not created a trust and transferred your property’s title to the trust, it is virtually guaranteed that your beneficiaries (or heirs) will have to deal with probate after your death. If the time and expense required to create a living trust does not make sense for your situation but you still want to avoid the probate process, a transfer-on-death (TOD) deed may be the solution. A TOD deed (also known as a beneficiary deed) does what it sounds like it does—it transfers your real property to your selected beneficiaries upon your death, similar to a payable-on-death designation for a bank account or a transfer-on-death registration for an investment account.
How to Protect Yourself from Claims of Self-Dealing When Serving as a Trustee
What Is Self-Dealing in Trust Administration? A trustee usually has quite a bit of discretion in their management of a trust’s accounts, money, and property (known as assets). At the ...
Why You Might Want to Go Through Probate
Avoiding probate is a common goal for individuals deciding how they want their money and property to be handled when they pass. It is a worthy one and is regularly promoted by estate planning attorneys across the nation. However, probate is not an inherently bad process and does not always need to be avoided. Probate can be simply defined as the court-supervised process of distributing a deceased person’s money and property—the key word being “court-supervised.” Court supervision has both pros and cons. In most cases, emphasis is rightly placed on the complexities associated with court involvement. Namely, court supervision makes the process of distributing money and property a public proceeding that is subject to timelines that are slow and often drawn out. The cost of court involvement also complicates matters.