When a loved one dies from a wrongful or negligent act of another, knowing where to begin the legal process can be difficult. When you bring a wrongful death case in Minnesota, there are a few things that you should know. First, there are strict time limits on how long you have to initiate the […]
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” – Unofficial creed of the United States Postal Service Each and every time I’m called-upon to settle an estate, one of my first tasks is to change the decedent’s mailing address. I do this – […]
Trustee A trustee is a fiduciary with a high degree of responsibility. As a fiduciary, a trustee has legal duties that he or she must perform. As discussed in Maggie Green’s series of posts, those duties include loyalty, impartiality, and recordkeeping. A trustee must act out of loyalty to the beneficiaries and not to further […]
A rabbi trust is a type of non-qualified deferred compensation plan set up by an employer for the benefit of an employee. Rabbi trusts get their name from a 1980 IRS private letter ruling that approved the use of these trusts. In that case, a congregation wanted to set up a trust for the benefit […]
A couple in love has a baby but they haven’t tied the knot. Many times they also haven’t created an estate plan. Unfortunately, the unwed parents in love need an estate plan more than married parents. Why, you ask? Well, if an unwed parent dies without a plan, the surviving parent doesn’t inherit any of […]
People need fiduciaries for a variety of reasons, but this article is written with elderly people who are incapacitated by dementia in mind. Dementia is an umbrella term that describes a variety of diseases that affect memory, attention, language, and problem solving abilities to such an extent that daily living is seriously affected. I […]
When a trust is created, it is always important to choose the right trustee. Generally, a trustee should be an individual(s) or company that is detail-oriented and will follow all required fiduciary duties. In previous posts, a trustee’s fiduciary duties and responsibilities have been outlined and discussed. Normally, a trustee is all that is needed […]
If you are one of the millions of parents who own a life insurance policy, you may have your child named individually as a primary or contingent beneficiary if you were to pass away while the policy was still in effect. However, naming a child individually, especially under the age of eighteen, can have unintended […]
For insured’s under the misperception that their life insurance policy is iron clad simply because they pay their annually billed premium, these folks may be in for an abrupt and expensive surprise. Many policies are designed to stay in force only on the basis of critical assumptions being met or exceeded over the life of […]
PART IV: HOW? DETERMINING THE TOOLS. “When an artist of talent makes a painting or a sculpture, he is always aware of the potentials and limitations of his materials; the better the artist, the more likely he is to know just what he can and cannot do with them.” ~Bruce Cole, Art Scholar and Senior […]
Earlier this month, Supplemental Needs Trusts were discussed. Today, we’ll focus on Special Needs Trusts. A Special Needs Trust is a tool in which a person with a disability is able to retain their assets by placing them into a trust to use the assets to supplement the government benefits the disabled person will receive […]