About fifty percent of the trusts that come across my desk are unfunded. Funding a trust simply means placing assets in a trust. Either by creating accounts to hold assets or by making the trust the owner of assets through titling Funding Trusts is essential to having a trust. Actually, I believe it’s the most important part of having since a trust. Since, an unfunded trust is not a trust at all, but rather a stack of papers. Here’s a…
Under the appropriate circumstances, a revocable living trust is the perfect estate planning document. Sometimes, however they can be overkill or underused. Whether a trust is the right document for you depends much upon your assets and family circumstances. Also much depends on whether you as the maker and trustee are willing and able to do so. Here’s some things to consider before using one in your estate plan. A Living Trust Is Not A Will Replacement If you have…
All work and no estate plan makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no estate plan makes Jack a dull boy. I know estate planning ranks right up there with having a root canal. But, I do my best to make going through the haunted hotel of estate planning as painless as possible. The most difficult part for many is starting. And getting started is as simple as scheduling an initial consultation. During our consultation, I’ll ask you what…
Prior to social distancing my firm’s procedure for drafting and finalizing a client’s estate plan went something like this. I met with clients a first time to gather information; then created a first draft of their documents; next I met with them again to review their documents; and lastly I met with them a third time to finalize their estate plans. If the stay-in-place order has forced you to address “what if” scenarios which were previously unthinkable. So, after you’ve…
Every remarried couple with a blended family needs to redo their estate planning documents. Besides updating your will, here are some things you should consider when reviewing your estate plan. Guardianship Plan In the event of your death, your children will go to their biological parent. If however, the biological parent is not capable of taking care of the children, now or in the future, it’s best to update your guardianship appointment documents. Additionally, if you believe it is not…