Estate Planning Scams: What Seniors Need to Know
Creating an estate plan is an important step in protecting your loved ones and ensuring that your assets are distributed according to your wishes. Unfortunately, scammers know that people who want to safeguard their estates are often willing to act quickly.
Even a carefully drafted estate plan can be...
The Call That Sounded Like a Scam—But Turned Out to Be an Inheritance
You’ve got to hand it to them: You nearly believed them when they said you were a partial owner of land that you inherited but never knew existed. They had names, dates, even a specific plot, supposedly with mineral rights, that you would never have been able to locate on your own....
When Helping Out Puts the Roof Over Your Head at Risk:Should You Ever Use Your Home as Collateral for Your Child’s Debt?
It is the kind of phone call that keeps parents awake at night. Your daughter is on the line saying, “I need some help.”
She is not hurt. It is not a brush with the law. She is in financial trouble and needs backup.
The business...
Seven Estate Planning Traps Most People Miss – and Seven Questions to Audit Your Family’s Future
Think back to how your life was seven years ago. Your family, your finances, your relationships, and even the accounts you use have probably changed in ways both obvious and subtle. Seven years does not feel like a long time until you start making the list.
Your estate plan...
Estate Planning for Schoolteachers: How Your Benefits Come into Play
As a schoolteacher, you do far more than teach lessons. You manage a classroom, mentor students, and juggle a busy schedule—often while balancing other responsibilities at home. But one important task is often too easy to postpone: estate planning.
Estate planning is not just for the wealthy. It is...
Types of Life Insurance and How They Can Be Used in Estate Planning
Many people first encounter life insurance when they start a full-time job and are offered coverage through their employer’s group plan. It is an easy decision to make—and one that often receives little attention afterward. But as your financial and family circumstances evolve, your coverage is worth revisiting.
What...
What You Should Know about Life Insurance in Estate Planning
An estate plan may look perfect on paper—until your heirs need cash quickly. Life insurance can be a powerful tool for addressing that gap, providing funds precisely when they are needed most. When coordinated with the rest of your estate plan, it can also help ensure that your wishes are carried out...
Marital Agreements Versus Wills and Trusts: Which Do You Need?
If you are entering a marriage or remarriage with significant assets, children from a prior relationship, business interests, inherited property, or a clear vision for your legacy, you may have been told that you need a will, a trust, or a marital agreement. These documents are often discussed together, but they serve...
Estate Planning When Your Children Live in Different States
Today, many families are scattered across the country, with parents living in one state and children in another.
Physical distance can introduce logistical hurdles that estate plans are not always built to handle. Even in a geographically clustered family, having a child living across state lines can create significant...
What Happens When You Put a Mortgaged Home into a Land Trust
Land trusts are often associated with conservation projects and nonprofits that preserve land for community use or affordable housing. But in estate planning, a land trust serves a different purpose: It is a private title management structure that allows you to maintain full control of the property, keep your name out of...