Estate Planning

Considering who will take care of your estate and talk to your beneficiaries after you die may seem like a big task. Knowing what skills and traits are a sign of a quality executor can allow you to find someone suited for this role. Thoughtful spending habits...

Contrary to popular belief, estate planning is not just for the elderly. Adults of any age should consider making an estate plan, but it is especially important to you if you have minor children. If you and your children's other parent both died before they turned 18,...

Making an estate plan serves as a time-consuming process, with a lot of difficult matters to cover. Most people feel relieved when they finally finish theirs. But finishing the estate plan is far from the end of maintaining it. In fact, the maintenance of an estate...

As someone who created a California estate plan while married, you may want to take a second look at your plan if you and your husband or wife decide to go your separate ways. Many married individuals play significant roles in the estate plans of their spouses....

Sibling conflicts are not an uncommon occurrence. They often happen between siblings of all ages and types and can range from mild to relationship-ruining. Of course, no matter the severity of the conflict, old hurts can always end up exacerbated during probate. This...

Sibling rivalries will often happen, with many siblings experiencing disputes of varying degrees of intensity throughout their childhoods and even into adulthood. Certain things can come along that reopen old wounds, too. This is often the case when a parent dies and...

When working on your estate plan, most of your time and energy goes into creating documents that will come into play after your death. But not every document works this way. Living wills, for example, go into effect while you are still alive. So do advance directives,...

Whether an irrevocable or a revocable trust works best for your purposes will depend on your objectives for creating one. Consider tax benefits, ownership, flexibility and debt when deciding between the two. While both trusts efficiently distribute assets to your...

A critical component of an effective estate plan is naming someone to be your executor. Without a trusted individual to oversee the closure of your estate, your plan may lack the support to work the way you intended. Approaching someone about his or her willingness to...

Estate planning can seem like a complicated task, but it does not have to be. In addition to writing a will and possibly setting up a trust depending on your circumstances, there are a few key steps you should consider in your estate plan. 1. Name an executor The...