Blog Articles

The conversation about being prepared for the passing of a partner can be difficult to have but navigating the issue can be more complicated for LGBTQ+ families.

If you do not learn from your mistakes, you are doomed to repeat them. In estate planning, if you do not learn from other’s mistakes, you are likely to repeat them. Mistakes in the estate planning of high-profile celebrities is one very good way to learn the lesson of what not to do. Here are eight celebrity estates, where the mistakes have been reported in the news over the years.

If you don’t have a spouse or children, you might think you don’t need to do much estate planning. However, if you have any assets, any familial connections, any interest in supporting charitable groups – not to mention a desire to control your own future – you do need to establish an estate plan.

An estate plan tells your heirs and the courts how to divide up your assets, but it also helps protect your loved ones from unnecessary hassle and expense–as well as potentially months, even years, tied up in the court system settling your estate.

Perhaps one of the most difficult, and increasingly common, estate planning questions involves the inclusion or disinheritance of an estranged child.

A trustee is a fiduciary which, essentially, is a person that owes a legal, ethical and, perhaps, moral obligation to act in the interest of another.

Every estate that holds titled property must be probated if title to that property is not transferred using some other wealth transfer method.

Many people have signed at least one power of attorney in their life. A power of attorney, which names a trusted family member, friend or advisor as your ‘attorney-in-fact’ to control your assets, is meant to be used if you are incapacitated.

Trust funds are not just for the ultra-rich. These sophisticated estate-planning tools can make just as much sense for middle-class Americans who own a home and have a net worth of at least $100,000.