Unfortunately, rifts sometimes arise between family members that are much more serious than just temporary squabbles. The result may be estrangement, defined as “the state of being alienated or separated in feeling or affection; a state of hostility or unfriendliness” or “the state Continue reading →

People often engage in transactions that result in money being owed to them, such as loaning money to a friend or business partner or renting a house to a tenant. But what happens if someone passes away before they receive the money owed to them? Can someone else collect these debts? Continue reading →

It is normal for married couples to share almost every aspect of their lives with each other. But when it comes to death, even the closest couples might become tight-lipped about certain topics. According to one study, half of all couples fail to discuss their dying wishes.^[1]

Death Continue reading →

A benefit of working hard is sharing the fruits of your labor with your loved ones. However, gift or estate tax consequences may impact high net worth clients when they share their wealth. By crafting a comprehensive estate plan, we can address these concerns and protect high net Continue reading →

A loved one’s passing is challenging on many different levels. In addition to the emotional difficulty of processing someone’s death, there are also the many tasks that must be dealt with, such as going through their various accounts and taking the necessary steps to cancel them or Continue reading →

When you create a trust, choosing a trustee is one of the most important decisions you will make. If you create a revocable living trust—that is, a trust that you establish during your lifetime and can revoke or amend—you may opt to act as trustee for your trust, retaining the full Continue reading →

Adding a payable-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) designation to an account allows the assets (money and property) in that account to be passed to a named beneficiary when the original account holder dies.

Like trusts, POD and TOD accounts bypass probate. They are also fast, Continue reading →

One of the main reasons that a person creates a revocable living trust (a trust established during a person’s lifetime that they can amend or revoke) instead of relying on a will to transfer their money and property to their beneficiaries is to avoid probate. Probate is the court Continue reading →

Careful, trust-based estate planning is the best way to ensure the highest quality of life for you and your loved ones. But, a well-crafted estate plan consists of many parts. Couples with highly appreciated accounts or property (something that is worth more now than when it was originally Continue reading →

If you have recently lost your job, you are not alone! Inflation has skyrocketed in the United States over the past couple of years. Some smaller businesses have not been able to survive the increased expenses, putting employees out of work, while many larger companies have laid off Continue reading →