Occasionally, clients ask their estate planning attorneys about how to leave behind shared gifts. This is an especially common scenario if you wish to pass along an asset to your children. Shared gifts are those that left to two or more individual beneficiaries.  Each of those beneficiaries receives a portion of the property ownership. This […]

It’s important to remember that a living trust is only active and valid once it has become funded. The living trust becomes funded after the creator puts together the necessary documents and then funds the trust by formally transferring the assets inside. The specific process for moving assets into this trust by the grantor will […]

You have the power to disinherit any or all of your children regardless of what state you live in, so long as you expressly name these terms in your estate planning materials. If you fail to mention a child specifically in your individual will, that child could still maintain a legal right to claim a […]

When consulting with your estate planning lawyer about putting together an LLC for tax and business purposes, one of the most common reasons for doing so is asset protect. A major goal of asset protection planning is to move assets into a strategic tool, such as a trust, to eliminate or reduce any exposure to […]

Through the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act you can leave gifts behind for your child or any minor in a living trust or a will. This law has been adopted in practically every state across the country. The property manager for a child is known as a custodian and under the UTMA.  The custodian’s management […]

In a child’s trust, you are eligible to leave behind specified property to one child. This property will be held distinctly from any property left for other children. You might choose with the help of your estate planning lawyer, for example, to create a child’s trust for each child if you have more than one.  […]

Selecting your primary and alternate beneficiaries is the first step to determining who will receive your property when you pass away. Outside of your will and trust, certain property passes directly through beneficiary designation forms, such as the proceeds from your life insurance policy and your brokerage accounts. Many people are not familiar with the […]

After you’ve crafted an estate plan, how do you feel about telling some or all your beneficiaries that you have left property behind. Does it matter whether or not you tell them exactly what you’ve left them? There are not any laws requiring you to inform your beneficiaries anything about your decisions.  You can provide […]

A will is the official estate planning document that you can use to name a guardian for your minor child in the event that something happens to you or you and the other parent. In many cases it can be tempting to name a couple as co-guardians. However, this is a poor idea to name […]

The word beneficiaries can be confusing, but it refers to institutions or people that you intend to leave property to. There are a few different types of beneficiaries including residuary beneficiaries, final beneficiaries, alternate beneficiaries, life estate beneficiaries and primary beneficiaries. Primary beneficiaries are those that you leave identified gifts of property to and usually […]