Estate planning includes all the planning that’s involved for setting up a will, a trust and making sure that your assets go to the people or organizations that you want to have them. Estate planning is complex — you should consider taxes when making plans for your assets to go to your heirs. If you don’t do estate planning you risk having your belongings managed by the state where you live, and your state’s laws may not match exactly what you want. Estate planning is especially important in blended families.
Who Can Prepare Estate Planning Documents?
Who Can Prepare Estate Planning Documents? A reader in Arizona points out that paralegals can prepare trusts, wills, and other documents needed for a successful estate plan Q: As you are attorneys, you may not like to hear that in Arizona, paralegals can prepare estate planning documents. This includes trusts, wills, powers of attorney and [...]
Transferring House Title Into Daughter’s Name
Transferring House Title Into Daughter's Name A reader wants to know how to pay the back taxes owed and transfer her mother's property into her name Q: My mother passed away in January of this year. She died without a will. My house sits on land that was my mothers and is supposed to be [...]
Trust Distribution Held Up
Trust Distribution Held Up Q: I was told I am a beneficiary of my sister's trust. She owned a home and other assets. Her son is the trustee but we don’t have a good relationship. I have been waiting for my distribution for several months. I have called several times and each time I [...]
Trusts Need Their Own Checking Accounts
Trusts Need Their Own Checking Accounts Q: I read your recent article about how to put a home with a mortgage into a trust. I agree with your advice, but as the daughter who had to deal with the sale of my mother’s home that was held in her trust, there is one further [...]
Empty Trusts: How to Retitle A Mortgaged Home
Empty Trusts: Estate Planning Mistake #1 Q: I created a revocable trust so that my three kids won’t have to deal with probate when I die as I did with my parents’ home. How do I get my mortgaged home into the trust, or does it need to be? A: We think you’ve made a [...]
Revocable Trust: Get It Right the First Time
Revocable Trust: Get It Right the First Time Q: We had created a revocable trust to hold title to a family home back in 2007. The attorney that created the trust for us has since retired. We need to make some minute, simple changes to the trust. Our son has since married and has two [...]
Estate Issues: Transferring Co-owned Assets
Estate Issues: Transferring Co-owned Assets How estates transfer assets like brokerage accounts or houses that are co-owned Q: I just read your article in the newspaper about the parents weighing the pros and cons of sharing assets with their daughter. What do you think about brokerage accounts that are held in joint tenancy with one [...]
Unpaid Home Loans: Sibling Wants Her Fair Share
Unpaid Home Loans Reader wants her fair share after siblings failed to repay home loans to mother's estate Q: My mother told me directly that the home loans my sisters and brother received from her would be taken out of their inheritance. My mother passed away 10 years ago. I just found out that my [...]
Estate Planning: Holding Title as Tenants in Common Causes Problems
Estate Planning: Holding Title as Tenants in Common Causes Problems Q: My husband died a couple of months ago. He had a living trust. I did not realize that our condo was titled as tenants in common rather than joint tenants. When he died, I asked a friend for the name of a lawyer to [...]
Estate Plan Mistake
Estate Plan Mistake Q: I'm wondering if my husband made an estate plan mistake. He died without a will. We have one son and when my husband passed, my son and I signed an agreement that said if I sold any of the properties, we’d both need to agree to the sale. When I sold [...]