Life insurance is a great way to provide your family with liquid assets after you pass away, but if the policy benefits would put your estate over the estate tax exemption, then you might consider a trust. When planning the estate of a family's primary breadwinner one of the biggest concerns is providing the necessary [...]
In a case of first impression the tax court has broadened when an estate can claim a theft loss. If the property of an estate is stolen, then the estate can report it as a “theft loss” and not pay estate taxes on the value of the asset. That is not a controversial issue. However, [...]
Many people rely on the information provided by the Social Security Administration to learn about their Social Security options and benefits. A recent government study suggests that they might not be getting all the information they need. For decades the vast majority of Americans have made decisions about their Social Security benefits by asking experts [...]
Getting married always comes with challenges and finances that needs to be worked out. This is especially true for people in their retirement years. When people fall in love and decide that they want to get married, they often do not think of all of the financial consequences of their decision to wed. In the [...]
If a loved one has been missing for a long time, it is possible to have him or her declared deceased so that an estate can be administered. You might have seen a television documentary or a movie about someone who disappears. With hundreds of channels in need of content the genre is a popular [...]
People seeking retirement advice often express concerns about needing to leave an inheritance for their loved ones. They should get an estate plan to do that. Different professionals have different roles in your financial well-being. Accountants can assist you with your tax returns. Retirement planners can assist you with your investments. And, as Morningstar explains [...]
People with old pensions and retirement accounts often have difficulty locating them. It can be more difficult for estate administrators who need to locate the old accounts. Some help might be on the way. When pension plans first became a popular benefit in the U.S. it was normal for people to stay employed by the [...]
Parents with small children want nothing more than to make sure their children are taken care of no matter what happens. A will is an essential document to do that. There is something about bringing a new life into the world that changes most people. A new child causes most of us to change from [...]
Estate Planning Attorneys talk about a lot of different legal documents. You need to know what those documents are. When you visit with an estate planning attorney, the attorney is likely to mention the names of several different legal documents. If you want to understand what the attorney is talking about, then you will need [...]
Learning about trusts can sometimes be difficult as there are several different types of trusts that you can get that are designed to do different things. When attorneys talk about trusts they often end up confusing laypersons with all of the legal jargon. There are many different types of trusts out there and each type [...]