One of the primary goals for many people when estate planning is to avoid having their families fight over their estates. It is not always easy, but some simple steps can help. Avoiding a family battle over an estate plan is an important goal, if you want your estate to go smoothly. Nothing creates more [...]
A satirical website should not be the first place you go to learn how to make a will. However, if you do happen to go to the Onion, you might find that their advice is not actually all that bad. The satirical magazine and website The Onion is best known to non-readers as a place [...]
Numerous services have recently sprung up that allow people to store their estate planning documents digitally. One of the latest services searches for news of its clients' deaths. Even the best estate plans are completely worthless if no one knows the estate planning documents exist or they cannot otherwise be found. A will cannot be [...]
One common provision in divorce settlement agreements should be looked over carefully by an estate planning attorney. In divorce property settlement agreements it is common for the spouse who will be responsible for paying child support to agree to also maintain life insurance. The insurance benefits are meant to provide for the child support should [...]
The file and suspend strategy to increase Social Security benefits is officially over. A couple of other benefit increasing strategies are still available. File and suspend was an extremely popular strategy for people to increase their Social Security benefits, but as of April 29, 2016 it is no longer an option. That has left people [...]
Not everyone is capable of competently handling a large inheritance. Some people will spend assets unwisely and others will lose them to creditors. There is a simple way to protect your heirs from these self-inflicted harms. Everyone knows someone who is terrible at handling money. These are the people who can be counted on to [...]