If you begin your estate planning before you’re well into your senior years, you likely will want to make some modifications down the road as your family, your assets and/or your priorities change. Experienced estate planning professionals can help people craft their...
A trust is a legal document that allows you to make specific requests about how your assets are managed. You could, for example, put aside funds for charities, pets or grandchildren with a trust. One popular kind of document is an incentive trust. An incentive trust...
Testators putting together estate plans frequently want to pass as much of their personal property to specific beneficiaries as possible. One of the strategies for maximizing what beneficiaries receive involves keeping as much of someone's property as possible out of...
If you are going to be passing a family business on to the next generation, it’s important to do succession planning. Don’t just leave this up to chance. Take the time to carefully plan how you want to transfer ownership of your business, increasing the odds that...
A generation or two ago, when a business owner passed away, their heirs typically took over the company (for better or worse). And while it’s true that sometimes those scenarios still take place, many of today’s heirs have little interest in assuming the mantle of the...
While it might seem uncomfortable to bring up, initiating a dialogue about your parents' wishes for their assets and healthcare can help ensure a smoother and less stressful process for everyone involved when the time comes. Estate planning encompasses more than just...
Estate planning is an important way of making known your wishes for the distribution of your assets after your passing. When creating your estate plan, other existing documents such as a prenuptial agreement, may impact how your assets are distributed and managed....
While you no longer must meet strict income and asset requirements to qualify for Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, you should still consider a proper planning strategy for long-term care. An irrevocable trust can be a valuable tool in helping you achieve this...
When doing business succession planning, business owners are often passing the company down to their adult children. They assume that their children will want to run the business and follow in their footsteps. But is this actually true? It’s very important to talk to...
When people are passing a family business onto the next generation, they often want things to be fair. They’re trying to avoid estate disputes, and they want to treat all of their children the same way. They think that this means making things equal, such as leaving...