Probate is a legal process for the distribution of assets from an estate. This means that a probate court gives the deceased person’s will full legal force and effect. If you are named an executor or administrator of someone’s will, you may be required to handle their probate case. What Does a Probate Lawyer Do?
You’ve worked hard to build your assets and want to protect what you’ve earned. You may have come across DIY estate planning advertised as a simple, inexpensive way to plan your estate. However, developing a strong estate plan requires a significant amount of paperwork and legal experience. An estate planning lawyer will help you build
Your fiduciary is an integral part of your estate plan. Who should you appoint to coordinate your affairs upon incapacity or death? Consider these questions when making the selection: • What are the responsibilities of my fiduciary? The fiduciary you select should be capable of handling the responsibilities of the appointed role. Personal Representatives and
“Probate” is the process of identifying and gathering a decedent’s assets, paying taxes, claims and expenses, distributing assets to beneficiaries and the wrapping up of a decedent’s affairs in a court supervised setting. Probate provides a means for those interested to make any claims, valid or invalid, in a fair structured process. Properly followed, it
An attorney retained by the deceased’s estate executor files with the local Probate Court to distribute the deceased’s assets. If no will is found, the deceased relatives retain an attorney to petition the Probate Court for distribution of the deceased’s assets to the heirs according to the state’s law of intestate succession. However, if the
Family, birth of our children, planning for our family’s needs, birth of our grandchildren, estate planning, passing on our legacies, birth of our great-grandchildren, family ties live on; our legacies live on – only the generations change. You have worked a lifetime creating a legacy you hope to share with our children and future descendants.
The IRS recently announced the inflation-adjusted items for 2016, including gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax amounts. The following adjustments should be considered in your estate and gift planning: • The gift tax annual exclusion for 2016 remains $14,000 (and is increased to $148,000 for gifts to a non-U.S. citizen spouse). Married couples who elect
It is much more fun to accumulate and develop our assets than to talk about giving them up. When you transfer your personal circumstances into a well drafted estate plan, you are creating a legacy for the benefit of your family. Thank about some of the following questions when creating or updating your estate plan:
Life insurance can certainly be looked at from an investment perspective. All one needs to do is to compare premiums paid to benefits received, incorporating the time value of money into the equation. Indeed, often times it makes a lot of sense to compare what life insurance can do versus simply investing the premiums elsewhere;
Once your Revocable Living Trust is created, title to many of your assets should be transferred to it. You should transfer your bank accounts, certificates of deposit, investments, among others into the Revocable Living Trust. When this process is complete, you, as an individual no longer own the transferred property, your Revocable Living Trust will