I cannot emphasize enough to my clients the importance of beneficiary designations. A beneficiary designation describes how your assets will be distributed upon your death. It is a form you complete with a financial institution (or your Human Resources department) pertaining to certain assets, for example, when you establish a life insurance policy or create […]
The handsome cat in this picture is Frank Sykora. He is my family’s cat and we love him like he is a human. Frank (or as we refer to him, Frank S.) spends most of his days sleeping and most of his nights protecting our home from critters and vermin. It is a tough job, […]
Since 2009, Frank and Jamie McCourt have been embattled in one of the messiest, public divorces. The McCourts were like any other couple. They met, fell in love, got married, and had four sons. However, along the way they purchased a major league baseball team, numerous homes costing millions of dollars and led an extravagant […]
Many people who support charities will limit their giving to writing a check (or perhaps these days using a great online giving portal like GiveMN.org). However, increasingly donors are taking advantage of the flexibility, tax savings, and long-term planning offered by planned giving. When a donor works with a planned giving professional, often in conjunction […]
Often, many of our clients ask how a Will or a gift might be contested by others. One of the main ways is by contesting the testator’s or donor’s mental capacity when the Will was signed or the gift made. The type of capacity needed for each is slightly different.
Rare accidents and natural disasters can happen ending with the deaths of multiple family members. When these tragic events occur, they result in situations where it cannot be determined who died first. Such occurrences are labeled as “simultaneous deaths.” Many individuals do not take into consideration that they might die at essentially the same time […]
People often associate estate planning only with directing the distribution of a decedent’s assets; however, estate planning is much broader and it can provide substantial utility to a person while he/she is still alive through a field of practice called asset protection. Asset protection is the process of structuring the ownership of assets to minimize […]
One consistent goal of estate planning clients who have children is to ensure financial stability for their children in the event that both parents die. These same parents often recognize that their children may not be mature enough to manage assets in a responsible way. To address this issue, trusts are created to ensure that […]
In a previous post, I discussed the circumstances under which a surviving spouse could be completely disinherited by the decedent spouse. There are other circumstances where the surviving spouse can elect for a specific share of the decedent spouse’s testate or intestate estate that the spouse would not otherwise be entitled to, but for the election. This […]
Clients can become confused and overwhelmed by the various roles and individuals named in their estate plan. In a previous post, I outlined the traditional key players in a typical estate plan. However, guardians, conservators and custodians are three roles that can come into play when an individual has not properly planned and therefore, clients […]
Growing older is a fact of life, but how and where we age is a matter of personal choice. Whether you are a member of Gen Y, Gen X, the Baby Boom, or the Silent Generation, you have an opportunity to define the next years of your life on your own terms. But it’s an […]