For many families, their angst begins over the fair distribution of their parents’ assets and possessions when their parents have passed on. But other families face quite a different conundrum: Their parents died broke and with their finances in a mess. Almost 50% of...
Milestones in our lives usually require some planning and consideration ahead of time. They might include saving for a college education and organizing the myriad details of a wedding, for example. Those are joyous, exciting occasions for most people. Writing a will...
An estate plan can represent hours of planning and hundreds of dollars of investment. If you spent time and money to create one, you probably have a specific legacy that you want to leave for the people you love. Unfortunately, no matter how carefully you try to avoid...
The role of a trustee is one that people often find confusing. A trustee has a fiduciary duty, but it is not to the person who created the trust. Their duty is to the trust itself and its beneficiaries. As the person named as trustee, your job is to manage the assets...
People who have children and get remarried need to give careful thought to the best way to ensure that everyone in the blended family gets their fair share of the estate. It isn’t usually sufficient to simply write a will that leaves everything to your spouse because...
When planning your estate, your most valuable assets are often the easiest to handle. You probably already have a plan for how to split up your financial assets or for how to handle your home after you die. People have rarely planned so carefully about their personal...
What can you do when your deceased loved one’s trust administrator does not fulfill his or her duties? Can trustees in California be relieved of their trust administration duties? Having problems with a trustee is a classic example highlighting how critical it is to...
A trust can be a very valuable part of an estate plan. The control it gives you goes well beyond what you would get with a will. You can really make decisions about exactly how your assets can be used. For instance, a common example is leaving money to a young heir...
People are often surprised when they find out that victims of abuse typically know their abuser. Usually, this is mentioned in terms of violence or sexual abuse. However, it is just as relevant to financial abuse. When someone is awarded power of attorney for someone...
When planning for retirement, there are several things to consider, not least what you will do with yourself. Too many people work and save hard all their life in preparation for their retirement. Yet they then get ill and die within a few years without ever having...
