Estate Planning

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 As your family grows and shifts, that snapshot can fall out of date.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...

There may come a time in life when you need critical medical treatment. If you are able to when that happens, you can discuss the options with the doctors yourself and choose the one you prefer. If, however, you are unable to, such as if you are in a coma, then it...

Estate planning is often thought of as a task that is completed once and then set aside. In reality, life rarely stays the same for long, and plans made years ago may no longer reflect current circumstances. Major milestones and unexpected events can reshape...

A do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order is something that a person may put on file if they know they do not want to be resuscitated if their heart stops beating or they stop breathing. Generally, this is just in reference to the use of CPR. They are telling doctors and other...

One of the biggest estate planning concerns isn’t simply passing down assets. It’s making sure loved ones are financially secure for years to come. A lot can happen when you’re gone, and the wealth you leave behind could be mismanaged or fail to provide lasting...

Having an estate plan is one thing. Updating it is another. Many people forget this step and pass away, leaving their family with an outdated estate plan that was written years or even decades earlier. So when should you update your plan? One option is to review it...