Your first step? Take stock of all your assets. These include your investments, retirement accounts, insurance policies, real estate and any business interests. According to CNN Money's "Identifying your assets" (i.e., part of its Money Essentials Series), a good first step for estate planning is to review and inventory all…
Who will be your child's guardian, and who will be the guardian of your estate? Experts say it's a difficult decision many families agonize over, and there's no one-size-fits-all scenario. In the event that you pass away suddenly and unexpectedly, what will happen to your kids? Just the thought of…
Leaving even a small inheritance to your children requires planning. Regardless the size of your estate, structuring an inheritance properly can avoid problems and help your beneficiaries use your hard-earned assets more wisely. Last year, AARP included an article in its materials titled, "How to Leave an Inheritance to Your…
You may have made a giant estate planning mistake without even knowing it — forgetting to update the names of your beneficiaries for your employer-sponsored retirement plans, IRAs, life insurance policies, mutual funds, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, annuities and 529 college savings plans. The recent MarketWatch article, titled “Don’t make…
Your plan is only as good as the people who implement it. When they aren’t competent, don’t pay attention to details, or decide to pursue their own interests, disaster can ensue. The latest case involves the Walt Disney estate. "If you can dream it, you can do it." Walt Disney…
Who knew a “Walk on the Wild Side” could pay off so handsomely? Late rock legend Lou Reed left behind a $30 million fortune, The Post has learned. $20 million-plus in “money and other property” doesn’t include the approximately $10 million in gifts Reed left to his wife, sister and mother…
As with estate planning for humans, creating a pet trust is designed to give owners peace of mind. To ensure that pets will be cared for in accordance with an owner’s wishes, owners should be sure to definitively detail their pet’s standard of living and nutritional and health care. Although…
NING, Ding, Grat. Ilit, Crat, Crut, Qtip. So what are these oddly named trusts and what do people who need them need to know? Ever been to a place where you don't understand the language? Learning a new language is no easy task. At least when it comes to French…
A no-contest clause may be a good idea if you have a beneficiary who may be upset by the property distributed to him or her. Consider this common estate plan predicament: you are drafting a will and know that if it is challenged by a spurned heir or for anyone…
The question that many Americans want answered is: is a will or trust best for retirees? There are simple solutions to simple problems, and complex solutions to complex problems. That being said, when it comes to estate planning many Americans ponder the following: "will or trust?" If you have found…