Business Owners: Ensure Your Estate Plan and Asset Protection Plan Work in Tandem
When it comes to assets, your business is likely to be your most valuable. That’s why it’s important for your estate plan and your asset protection plan to complement each other. Each serves a distinct purpose, but when coordinated properly, they can help ensure that your wealth is preserved, liabilities are minimized...
The QTIP Trust: A Powerful Planning Tool for Blended Families
Remarriages are increasingly common. According to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, by age 55, nearly 27% of those who’ve married have done so two or more times. As a result, “blended” families — in which one or both spouses have children from a previous marriage — are also...
Clarity Counts:A Letter of Instruction can be a Valuable Addition to your Estate Plan
Most people understand the importance of having a valid will as part of their estate plans. A will helps ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes and can provide important legal guidance for your loved ones after your death. However, there’s another estate planning document that’s sometimes overlooked yet...
Closely held business owners, listen up! An Employee Stock Ownership Plan Can Benefit Your Estate Plan…
As an owner of a closely held business, you’re likely familiar with how an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) can offer an exit strategy and provide a tax-efficient technique for sharing equity with employees.
What you may not be aware of is that an ESOP can be a powerful...
Estate Planning Red Flag -You Didn’t Place Restrictions on your Charitable Gifts
Charitable giving allows you to support causes you care about while potentially reducing your estate tax burden. However, making unrestricted gifts to charity without careful estate planning can create unintended consequences that may diminish both your benefits and the long-term impact of the gifts.
An unrestricted gift gives a...
The Window of Opportunity:Legal Steps to Take When You First Notice Memory Problems
You have been seeing the signs for months. Mom or Dad has not quite been themselves lately. They are forgetting things more often: appointments, addresses, payments, names. The other day, they got lost going to a place they have frequented for years.
When you try to bring it up,...
A Dementia Diagnosis Changes More Than Healthcare – Seven Steps to Take While You Can
With dementia cases in the United States estimated to double by 2060—and roughly 42 percent of Americans over age 55 at risk of developing dementia according to recent research1—a diagnosis is something that more and more families will face.
The statistics are sobering in the abstract. They feel different...
Too late to Plan – Navigating Legal and Financial Barriers After Dementia Progresses
Looking back, it often feels clearer. The signs were there—missed appointments, repeated questions, small but noticeable changes. You were paying attention; you just thought there would be more time.
The situation has now changed. If your loved one’s cognitive decline has progressed to the point where they may no...
Powers of Appointment: A Flexible Estate Planning Tool
By definition, estate planning is designed to address events that may not occur for years or even decades. This requires you to make decisions regarding your estate today against the backdrop of an uncertain future. Fortunately, there are tools available to build flexibility into your plan, including powers of appointment.
Becoming Empty Nesters Soon?
This transition is the perfect time to reexamine your estate plan
It’s graduation season! Whether your last (or only) child will soon be leaving home for college or a new job, becoming empty nesters is a major life transition for you and your spouse. While much of the focus...