The Pros & Cons of Probate Understanding If Your Assets Must Go Through Probate In estate planning circles, the word “probate” often carries a negative connotation. Indeed, for many people—especially those with valuable accounts and property—financial planners recommend trying to keep accounts and property out of probate whenever possible. That being said, the probate system [...]

Will Our Child Have To Handle Multiple Trusts After Our Deaths? Can You Combine Separate Trusts Into One? When a married couple creates an estate plan using a revocable living trust, they have the option of creating a single joint trust or two separate individual trusts. While the pros and cons of each are beyond [...]

Why a Trust Is The Best Option To Avoid Probate Trusts & The Probate Process: What You Should Know Ideally, when someone passes away, the paperwork and material concerns associated with the deceased’s passing are so seamlessly handled (thanks to excellent preparation) that they fade into the background, allowing the family and other loved ones [...]

Three Celebrity Probate Disasters & Tragic Lessons Lessons About Probate We Can Take From Celebrities One would assume that celebrities with extreme wealth would take steps to protect their estates. But think again: some of the world’s richest and most famous people enter the pearly gates with no estate plan, while others have made estate [...]

What If I Cannot Find a Beneficiary? What Should You Do If You Can't Find a Missing Beneficiary? When someone has named you as the executor (also known as a personal representative) of their will or the trustee of their trust passes away, you are obligated to distribute that person’s money and property according to [...]

Three Reasons To Avoid Probate Key Reasons Why You May Want To Avoid Probate When you pass away, your family may need to sign certain documents as part of a probate process in order to claim their inheritance. This can happen if you own property (like a house, car, bank account, investment account, or other [...]

What is a Blind Trust? A General Guide To Blind Trust & How Does It Work Trusts are typically set up for the benefit of a trust maker's loved ones, a charitable organization, or a third party, with the trust money and property being distributed to the beneficiaries upon the trustmaker’s death. But there are [...]

Three Tips for Overwhelmed Executors How To Deal With Your Executor Of Will Duties While it is an honor to be named as a trusted decision maker, also known as an executor or personal representative, in a person’s will, it can often be a sobering and daunting responsibility. Being an executor requires a high level [...]

An Introduction To Dynasty Trusts The Beneficiary's Guide to Dynasty Trusts When people create estate plans, they typically focus on handing down their money and property to their children, grandchildren, and other living heirs. But some people want to leave behind a more enduring legacy. For those interested in multigenerational wealth transfer, a dynasty trust [...]