Estate Planning

It is easy to associate wills, beneficiaries and inheritance decisions with retirement or old age. However, there is no specific age at which a person suddenly needs an estate plan. The best time to start is usually when there are people, property or financial...

Creating an estate plan provides a way to put important decisions in writing, from who should receive certain property to who can manage financial or health care matters when necessary. However, five or ten years later, those same instructions may no longer accurately...

There are many medical decisions that are deeply personal matters. Some people have religious or moral beliefs that prevent them from taking certain medications or even receiving blood transfusions, for example. Others want their personal misfortune to benefit others,...

Having several grandchildren can be a wonderful blessing, but it can also make estate planning more complex than it might otherwise be. As families grow, it becomes increasingly important to create a plan that clearly reflects your wishes and provides for future...

Many married couples assume that they should have a single will that covers both spouses. However, the vast majority of the time, each person should have their own individual will. Although spouses often have similar estate planning goals, a will is a personal legal...

If you’re preparing to put your estate plan in place, you likely hope to make things easier for your family after you’re gone and prevent confusion and conflict over your wishes. Even people who try to be responsible, however, can unknowingly create conflict and even...

A will reflects your life at the moment you sign it. As your family grows and shifts, that snapshot can fall out of date. What once felt clear may no longer match your wishes. Reviewing your will after major family events keeps your plan accurate. Here are the changes...

Estate planning is a comprehensive undertaking, partly because it encompasses so many areas of your life. While you’re thinking of how you’re going to handle your assets, you also need to consider making plans for how things will be taken care of if you become...

An estate plan often has more than one component in order to accurately and legally relay the creator’s wishes. While you might be focused on getting your will set up, you should also think about setting up a trust.  A trust is an important part of an estate plan...

Blended families begin when parents with children from prior relationships get married. They create a larger blended family unit that contains stepchildren and stepparents, as well as stepsiblings. That new family unit may be fragile, especially in cases where...