Welcome to the show, where you, as part of the studio audience get to hear some of the most common reasons why people don’t plan for the distribution of assets after they’re gone. Listen closely, so you don’t make the same excuses. Okay, maybe that’s a little over-the-top, but not creating an estate plan, even a basic one, opens the [...]
May you live in interesting times. Although that sounds like an ancient blessing, it’s believed to be a Chinese curse casting instability and uncertainty on the person who hears it. Blessing or curse, it’s a great description of the year we’ve just come through, and in spite of all the turmoil, there are some things you can do before the [...]
Over the years I’ve had clients who knew they’d been named in estate planning documents as executor of an estate, and I’ve had others who found out only after a relative died that they had to settle an estate. In most cases, I’d get a call asking, “What do I do?” Here are some things I’ve learned working with clients [...]
Death tax, inheritance tax, estate tax—call it what you will, they all mean that some government entity wants to put its hand in your pocket or your heirs’ pockets, after your demise. On the federal level, the estate tax issue is not as big a deal as it was back in the day. Today individuals can pass on more than [...]
You’ve done all the planning. Your trust is set up. You’re comfortable that your estate will be distributed exactly as you want. There’s just one more decision to make—an important one. Who should be the trustee? James J. Ferraro, JD is vice president and legal counsel at Argent Trust Company. He says there is much to consider when choosing a [...]
You spend a lifetime earning, saving, acquiring. But the old adage is true—you can’t take it with you. So, what do you do with your assets when you’re gone? How do you want them distributed? That’s where a good estate plan comes in. However, some estate plans are based on ideas that just aren’t true. Plans are made based on [...]
What to do? What to do? The 2020 presidential election is just around the corner and questions are being asked about how to protect your wealth, no matter who’s elected. Each candidate has broadly divergent views about income taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes; how much you keep, and how much the government will come after. With that in mind, [...]
Oh, my! I cringe every time I hear that someone has added their kids’ names to the deed of their house as an estate planning technique. It’s done for the right reasons, but it often backfires. Sometimes, elderly people will add kids to the deed, thinking they’re removing the house from their assets in order to become Medicaid-eligible. Unfortunately, there [...]
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