Couples who choose not to marry often share the same commitments as married partners, yet they don’t receive the same automatic protections under the law. Without careful planning, an unmarried partner may be left without rights to property, decision-making, or even financial support if the other partner passes away. Estate planning helps...
What Having an Incapacity Plan Can Accomplish
Incapacity planning is a critical aspect of personal and financial well-being that gets overlooked all too often. It involves creating a comprehensive strategy to address the possibility of becoming mentally or physically incapacitated and being unable to make important decisions about your own life and asset management. While contemplating the possibility...
What are the Benefits of Preparing a Will?
Have you had estate planning on your to do list for a long time and somehow it keeps getting bumped by seemingly more pressing matters? Do you think about creating a will but have consistently put it off? Well, creating a will is not necessarily something a person looks forward to. It...
Key Considerations When Choosing a Trustee
So, you have decided to incorporate a trust into your estate plan. Great! Trusts can accomplish a number of important goals for your future and that of your loved ones. A big part of setting up your trust for success, however, is choosing the right trustee. Trustees, of course, play a...
How to Choose the Right Guardian for Your Loved One with Disabilities
If you have a loved one with special needs, then you know better than anyone about the benefits and necessity of planning ahead. This should include selecting a guardian for your loved one with special needs. After all, not everyone will be best suited to caring for a person with special needs....
Why New Parents Should Consider Setting Up an Estate Plan
Parents know, the kids come first in so many ways. We know this even before we hold our new babies in our arms. As parents, we work every day to provide for our children. This means to provide for them financially, emotionally, and in so many other ways. It’s true that a...
Charitable Giving and Estate Planning
Many of us have causes or organizations we want to support. Estate planning gives you the opportunity to extend that support beyond your lifetime. By including charitable giving in your estate plan, you not only leave a legacy but may also receive tax benefits and ensure your assets are used in a...
Why Put a Power of Attorney in Place?
A really vital part of estate planning is planning not for death, but incapacitation. Yes, neither make for pleasant conversation, but these are issues that we must all confront if we are to put plans in place to protect our wishes and our goals for the future. It does not matter how...
What to Include in Your Advance Health Care Directives
We all have the right to determine what type of health care we want to receive or not receive. Sometimes, however, due to injury, illness, or simply the aging process, we run the risk of our healthcare wishes not being honored because we have not adequately communicated them and memorialized them in...
Advantages and Disadvantages of Irrevocable Trusts
Although it may be the best known, a will is not the only tool you can use to dispose of your assets. In fact, there are other beneficial ways to accomplish this, a trust being one of them. There are actually a variety of trust types you can utilize in your estate...