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How the Holidays Can Inspire Your Family Legacy Planning
While passing down family recipes and gathering around the holiday table are cherished traditions, these moments also present a perfect opportunity to discuss, preserve, and protect your family’s broader legacy.
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Shining a Light on Shelley Duvall’s Death and Estate Plan
Shelley Duvall, best known for her role as Wendy Torrance in The Shining, passed away recently at the age of 75. While her acting legacy continues to captivate fans, her passing reveals some important lessons about estate planning that everyone can learn from.
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Navigating End-of-Life Care: Lessons from a Daughter’s Tragic Experience
In an aging society, you might face difficult end-of-life decisions for your loved ones sooner than expected. And when you do, you’ll realize that the journey is rarely straightforward.
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How Relying On Beneficiary Designations Puts Your Family at Risk (And How To Fix It!)
As a professional in the field, I’ve seen many financial advisors, accountants, and even other lawyers suggest that naming beneficiaries on your accounts is sufficient, and that you don’t need an estate plan. However, they often overlook the potential risks to your family’s financial future.
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Would $23,000 Make a Difference to You?
Imagine discovering thousands of dollars that belong to you, only to be told you can’t have it. It’s called “unclaimed property,” money that’s yours but has been handed over to the government without your knowledge. And it happens more often than you may think.
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3 Strategies For Navigating Your Child’s Transition Into Adulthood
When your child turns 18, they’re legally an adult even though they have a lot more growing to do. Just like any other adult, their health and financial information is protected by privacy laws. But unlike any other adult, that’s still your child, and you want to support them in a crisis. Your role as…
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What Probate Is and How To Avoid It — Part 2
Unless you’ve created an estate plan that works to keep your family out of court, when you die (or become incapacitated) many of your assets must go through probate before those assets can be distributed to your heirs. Like most court proceedings, probate can be time-consuming, costly, and open to the public, and because of…
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What Probate Is and How To Avoid It — Part 1
Unless you’ve created a proper estate plan, upon your passing many of your assets must first go through the court process known as probate before those assets can be distributed to your heirs. During probate, the court supervises a number of different legal actions, all of which are aimed at finalizing your affairs and settling…
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Avoid These 4 Common Estate Planning Pitfalls
If you’re a parent, you’ve always strived to provide the best for your family, ensuring their well-being and securing their future. However, even the most well-intentioned plans can falter if you overlook the complexities of estate planning. Let’s explore some common pitfalls that parents often encounter, then offer practical strategies to navigate them successfully. Heads…
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4 Reasons Why a Cheap Estate Plan Won’t Work For Your Family
Most people, regardless of stature and wealth, likely do not know how to evaluate estimates when shopping for an estate plan. Shopping for an estate plan based on getting the lowest cost plan possible is often the fastest path to leaving your family with an empty set of documents (maybe in a beautiful binder, but…
