Gifting can be an estate planning tool, for you can save on future estate taxes and have the pleasure of watching your dollars work for your children or grandchildren while you are still alive. If you're tired of the standard store-bought items for gifts, you may consider a different spin…
“We’re not surprised by the fact that people don’t know a lot about retirement income planning,” says David Littell, program director at the American College. “I was surprised at how badly they did.” Could you pass a retirement literacy test? Apparently, 80 percent of Americans surveyed did not. These Americans…
There is no magic formula or solution available for transferring personal property because each family and their possessions are different. However, the Extension program "Who Get's Grandma's Yellow Pie Plate?" suggests there are some factors for every family to consider whether planning for the transfer an individual's own personal property…
Leave it to Beaver? Or do you prefer to leave your estate to someone else? Today’s families are a lot different than Ward and June Cleaver. There are more families today with non-traditional situations than ever before. This makes financial and estate planning all the more important. If your family…
Once someone dies there is much work to be done. These are a few suggestions to help you get administratively organized for death. To make death easier for all involved, it’s critical to plan some of the issues related to death far in advance with some contemplation to make everything…
Where there’s a will, there’s a way—and sometimes an ugly family feud. Families are consumed with grief when a loved one dies, but unfortunately certain legal and organizational tasks that arise can’t be ignored or put off for long. But you can ease the burden on your loved ones by…
State and federal estate and inheritance tax rates are what drive most people’s estate plans, but now that tax rates are falling and exemptions rising in many jurisdictions, how much people will leave their heirs isn’t what keeps them awake at night anymore. What they really worry about is how…
Establishing a will is a vital part of protecting your financial legacy and there is no benefit in delaying it. Here are six often-avoided questions to help you get over your fear of wills and establish one for your family. There are no silly questions when it comes to your…
To prevent you and your family members from enduring more stress, misery or confusion than necessary, here are five estate-planning booboos to avoid … Think you have the right ideas when it comes to your Houston estate? You may want to watch out for some common "don'ts" in the estate…
“Income-tax rates are going up so it becomes more expensive for a grantor to maintain the grantor trust status of a trust they’ve set up,” says Lynn Halpern Lederman, managing director and senior fiduciary counsel – Northeast Region at Bessemer Trust, a New York firm that oversees $97.5 billion. A…