Estate planning for married couples in Colorado can be tricky when one spouse is significantly wealthier than the other and each spouse wants different beneficiaries to ultimately inherit their estate. One solution to this problem is the Lifetime QTIP (Qualified Terminal Interest Property) Trust. Continue reading
Year: 2015
Planning For Your Parents in Your Estate Plan
Planning For Your Parents in Your Estate Plan
If you are part of the baby boomer generation in Colorado (born between 1946 and 1964), you may also find that you are a member of the sandwich generation, with responsibilities to both your parents (now or in the future) and your children. This should change the way you think about estate planning–instead of the traditional approach of how to leave assets to your children and future generations, you may also need to include providing for the previous generation (your parents). Continue reading
Incapacity Planning: What You Need to Know
Comprehensive estate planning in Colorado is about more than your legacy after death, avoiding probate, and saving on taxes. At Davis Schilken, PC, we believe that it must also be about having a plan in place to manage your affairs if you become incapacitated. Continue reading
3 Powers to Consider Giving to a Trust Protector in Colorado (Estate Planning)
3 Powers to Consider Giving to a Trust Protector in Colorado (Estate Planning)
Many of the estate plans Davis Schilken prepares for clients contain irrevocable trusts that will continue for the benefit of a spouse’s lifetime and then for the benefit of several generations. Since these trusts are designed to span multiple decades, it is important that they include a trust protector who will have the ability to adjust the trust provisions as circumstances, beneficiaries, and governing laws change.
Baltimore Register of Wills Can’t Find Her Father’s Original Last Will, Will Your Family Be Able to Find Yours?
While it’s not unusual for an original last will and testament to be misplaced, it is when your daughter happens to be the Register of Wills for Baltimore City.
What is a Register of Wills? Continue reading
Caution: Writing Your Own Deed to Avoid Probate Can Lead to Unintended Consequences
One way to avoid probate of real estate after the owner dies is to hold the title to the property in joint names with rights of survivorship with children or other beneficiaries. This may be accomplished by adding the names of the children and certain legal terms to a new deed for the property and then recording it in the applicable public land records.
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How Will the 2015 Supreme Court Decisions Affect You and Your Family?
While approximately 10,000 cases are appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court each year, only 75 to 80 make it to oral argument. Of those cases, only a handful grab the media’s attention. Below is a summary of three landmark decisions handed down in 2015 that could affect how you are taxed, pay for healthcare, and plan your estate. Continue reading
Contesting Life Insurance Beneficiaries
Most of us have been advised to have life insurance to provide for our families in the event of tragedy, and thankfully, many people have heeded this admonition. Unfortunately, situations arise in which an insured person forgets to update beneficiaries, or in which an insured is coerced or tricked into changing beneficiaries. In such cases, the people who believe they are entitled to the proceeds of the insurance policy must contest the named beneficiary on the policy. Continue reading
Estate Planning for Disabled or Special Needs Children
A nearly universal concern for parents of children with disabilities or special needs is how their children will be cared for when they’re no longer able to do so. To a large extent, the quality of care received often depends on the amount of funds available to pay for it, and many parents save diligently throughout their lives in the hopes of providing the very best for their children after they’re gone. Continue reading
How Much Does Probate Cost?
A common reason people give for creating an estate plan is that they want to avoid their estate going through probate. Part of the concern about probate involves fear that the estate will be consumed by probate costs. What exactly does probate (also known as estate administration) cost in Colorado, and are there any ways to minimize that cost? Continue reading