Today we’re going to talk about individual retirement accounts, also called IRAs and how they fit into estate planning for you. Before we get into everything, we need to explain a couple of definitions because this can get a little bit complicated and a little bit murky because some of the things sound the same. …
Life Estates vs Enhanced Life Estates
This post discusses the difference between a life estate and an enhanced life estate. These are essential estate planning and Medicaid planning tools, but enhanced life estates are available everywhere. What is a Life Estate? A life estate is created when you give your property to another person, but during your lifetime you retain the …
When a Revocable Trust becomes Irrevocable
This blog post is going to review two common situations in which a revocable trust becomes irrevocable. There are more situations and ways that cause a revocable trust to become irrevocable, but this will just talk about the two common situations. The common situations are death of the Grantor and incapacitation of the Grantor. A …
You Need a Will if you have Young Children
You need a will when you have young children and there are two main reasons why; to name a guardian for your children and for their financial protection. First is if both parents pass away, you need somebody to be the guardian of the kids, and the choices are; do you want to make the …
Difference between an irrevocable trust and a revocable trust
I question I often get is what the difference between an irrevocable trust and a revocable trust, also called a living trust or inter vivos trust. Before we start talking about these trusts, there’s three basic definitions I want to get out there. There’s the person that creates the trust; the person that manages the …
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Contesting a Will
In the movies and in general people think you can contest or “fight” a will because you aren’t getting what you deserve or what you want. But there are specific grounds on which you can contest a will. First, to contest a will, you need to have standing, but what does that mean? Standing means …
An Overview of the Probate Process
Today, I’m going to give you an overview of the probate process. This is a process that can be somewhat confusing and scary for people, so I’m here to just kind of give you a general overview of it. After somebody dies, the first thing you do is you file the will at probate. You …
What is a Power of Attorney
A question I sometimes get is, “What is a power of attorney?” A power of attorney is a document that allows somebody to act as your agent, in your place. Think of it as somebody basically taking a wooden stick with a picture of your face on it and putting it in front of somebody …