One of the life events that motivates many people to give some thought to estate planning — at least one element of it — is having a child. Many parents want to plan for the worst- case scenario that they both die (perhaps in a car or plane crash) and leave their children orphans. While […]

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Are you headed for a second marriage? Are you already married for a second time? Do you have children from your first marriage? These are all important questions you will need to answer when putting together your estate plan or modifying your current plan. If you answered yes to these questions, there could be some […]

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One of the key focus areas for estate planning for parents of young children is simply picking who is going to take care of them. It goes far beyond simply passing assets on to the kids, as would be done once they are adults. They need help and guidance moving forward. They need people who […]

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You don’t have to be a billionaire to have foreign assets. Many Americans have property, businesses and other investments in foreign countries. Just as you deal with those assets separately when it comes to paying taxes, you also need to give special consideration to them as you do your estate planning. Make sure that your California […]

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As we age, most of us will become less independent at one point or another. While many elderly people are able to continue living relatively independently in the later years of their lives, others require the type of support that family members would simply not be able to provide. If you are worried about the […]

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It’s essential to review your estate plan whenever a significant life event happens to you or someone in your family. You’ll want to determine if any modifications are necessary to make sure that your plan reflects your current wishes. Divorce is a life event that can require a number of modifications. You likely don’t want […]

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Many baby boomers who are hitting their senior years are divorced, widowed or have remained single their whole lives. A number of them never had children. If you have no heirs, is there any reason to have an estate plan? There is if you want a say in what happens to your assets after you […]

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You know that dementia is a risk for your parents, but how do you know when it’s actually starting to set in? It’s not as if they suddenly deteriorate mentally in a clear and obvious fashion. It can take a long time, people have good and bad days, and you need to understand what early […]

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Sometimes, when developing an estate plan, people choose to place conditions on the money inherited through wills or trusts. The beneficiary must meet what’s called a “condition precedent.” For example, you may make your grandchild a beneficiary of a trust, but only after they’ve graduated from college or if they use the money to start […]

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Many people see their estate plan as a means not just to leave money to their grandchildren and others in younger and future generations, but specifically to help them (and their parents) pay for the best possible education they can get. Setting up a trust is a popular way to do that. There’s more than […]

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