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An estate plan isn’t a one-time thing, written just to be set aside to collect dust. Life changes. Laws and regulations change.

Reviewing your estate plan regularly and during major life events, regardless of the last update, will help make sure your affairs are in order.

Here’s everything you need to know about when you should review your estate plan.  

Continue reading “How Often Should You Review Your Estate Plan?”

Annual family gifts reduce estate taxes for individuals who have funds that they want to turn into tax-exempt gifts.

Shrinking your estate taxes is about making sure your hard-earned and meticulously-saved money will be used for purposes important to you — like paying for your grandchildren’s college educations — not going into government pockets.

Continue reading “How Do Annual Family Gifts Reduce Estate Taxes?”

Knowing the difference between asset protection and estate planning is the first step when it comes to protecting your property for yourself and future generations.

The logistics can feel overwhelming and confusing at first, but don’t worry. Here’s a breakdown of the differences:

Continue reading “What’s the Difference Between Asset Protection and Estate Planning?”

Dying without a will happens more often than you might think. Aretha Franklin. Prince. Howard Hughes. Celebrity or not, if you neglect taking the time to compile a legal document that outlines your full and complete wishes for your assets and the minors in your care, there can be life-changing consequences for the people left behind.

Continue reading “3 Unintended Consequences of Dying Without a Will”

No more school buses. No more huge grocery lists. The last bird has left, and now the nest is empty!

You may feel sad or you may be overjoyed. You may not truly feel like an “empty nester” if you are still paying college tuition or loans for college tuition. You may just be trying to remember what life is like without your kids in the house. Either way, one thing you may overlook is the importance of taking a step back and taking a look at your estate as a whole.

Continue reading “Estate Planning Tips for Empty Nesters”

The “great wealth transfer” is underway. Over the next few decades, Baby Boomers will pass on $30 trillion in assets to Generation X and Y. If you’ve talked to your older loved ones about estate planning, you may have an idea of the scope of the assets that will wind up in your hands eventually. Have you calculated how this will affect your own estate planning?

Continue reading “When You’re Expecting an Inheritance”

Much attention is given to how to handle your personal property after death, in the physical world. What about the digital footprint you have left behind? From cryptocurrency to domain names to online stores to your Twitter feed – do you have a plan in place for each of these digital assets and who will assume ownership or responsibility for termination?

Continue reading “What Will Happen to Your Digital Assets When You Pass Away?”

 

Young children in the family offer powerful motivation for parents to put an estate plan in place. It’s imperative to ensure growing young ones will be taken care of by the desired guardian in the event of a parent’s premature passing, and it’s important that the guardian have access to the funds to “launch” the child in place of the deceased parent.

Continue reading “How Estate Planning Changes After Your Children Graduate”