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Discretionary / Continuing Trusts – How to Protect Beneficiaries and Their Inheritance from Bad Decisions, Divorce or Outside Influences

Although leaving your hard-earned assets outright to your adult children, grandchildren, or other beneficiaries after you die may seem like the easiest and most desired form of distribution for the beneficiaries, this scheme will make their inheritance easier prey for creditors, predators (e.g. lawsuits), and divorcing spouses.  Instead, consider using discretionary trusts (aka continuing trusts) for the benefit of each of

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Did You Or A Loved One Make Any Of These Five Critical Estate Planning Mistakes?

Sadly, most Americans are indifferent to estate planning – at best – or completely ignore the issue – at worst. When it comes to estate planning, however, there are just some mistakes that you cannot afford to make. Below are five of the most critical estate planning mistakes. Not having any estate plan. This is the biggest mistake, especially among younger

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5 Reasons to Protect Your Retirement Accounts Now

During your lifetime, your retirement account has good asset protection, but as soon as you pass that account to a loved one, that protection evaporates. This means one lawsuit and POOF! Your life long, hard earned savings could be gone. Your heirs could be left penniless. Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem.  A special trust called a “Standalone Retirement

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Trusts – The Swiss Army Knife of Estate Planning

To the general public, a trust may seem like an advanced tool only for the wealthiest among us. But, the reality is that trusts are a foundational estate planning tool with a solid history for being highly effective in ensuring a person’s wishes are carried out. The process begins with the maker of a trust – commonly referred to as the

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One Call You Must Make After You Buy a Home

During the home buying process, you worked with a lot of individuals: your realtor, the seller’s realtor, the title company, the loan officer, and the home inspector.  Now that you have finalized the purchase of your house, there is one more expert you need to call: your estate planning attorney. Aligning Your Ownership with Existing Estate Planning First, your attorney can

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Do Your Parents have an Estate Plan?

If you find yourself in the “sandwich generation” (someone who is caring for both your children as well as your parents simultaneously), you need to know whether or not your parents have put together an estate plan. While it is still your parent’s choice to make estate planning decisions, having a plan — no matter how late in life it is

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Your Fall “Legal Affairs” Checklist

Fall is an excellent time to review your affairs. Below is a checklist to ensure your planning meets your needs and is up-to-date: When was your power of attorney last updated? A power of attorney is a valuable legal document, no matter what the circumstance. Not only is it flexible and can be prepared to meet your particular needs, but it

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Who Should Be Your Successor Trustee?

If you have a revocable living trust, you probably named yourself as trustee so you can continue to manage your own financial affairs, but eventually, someone will need to step in for you when you are no longer able to act due to incapacity or after your death. Your successor trustee plays an important role in the effective execution of your

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treasure chest

Get Your Treasure into the Treasure Chest

When explaining the difference between a will and a living trust to our clients, we sometimes use the metaphor of a collecting treasure (your house, accounts, etc.) into a treasure chest (the trust that holds your treasure). Although we talk our clients through this concept, admittedly it can feel like they have a lot of information coming at them as they

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Trust

How to Choose a Trustee

When you establish a trust, you name someone to be the trustee. A trustee does what you do right now with your financial affairs – collect income, pay bills and taxes, save and invest for the future, buy and sell assets, provide for your loved ones, keep accurate records, and generally keep things organized and in good order. The Key Takeaways

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