What Happens to My Estate Plan When I Divorce? People often designate their spouse as a primary beneficiary in their will, trust, or beneficiary designation, but what happens in the case of divorce? Oftentimes, a person may neglect to update their testamentary plan following a divorce and leave their ex-spouse…
COVID-19 – Buying Life Insurance to protect your children, but what happens when you name them as the beneficiaries? During these uncertain times, people are attempting to prepare for the worst. This is especially true for those who have minor children. The fear of getting infected with the virus, developing…
How to Safely get Documents Notarized During a Pandemic For the indefinite time being, social distancing and staying home are necessary safety measures. However, that does not mean the world stops. People still have needs and documents that must be notarized. There are ways to do that without leaving the…
The Secure Act: Retirement Accounts and Your Estate Plan Beginning on December 20, 2019, the Secure Act substantially changed the rules for designated beneficiaries of retirement plans, with wide raging implications for estate planning. The old rule used to be that upon the death of a retirement account owner, the…
What if Your Beneficiaries Predecease You? When preparing a will, people assume that the beneficiaries that they name will outlive them. Unfortunately, testator’s live beyond the life of their beneficiaries all the time. What happens to the gift left for someone who is now deceased? The original common law understanding…
How Can you Prove Undue Influence? For a Will to be valid, certain conditions must be met. The testator must have legal capacity, at least eighteen years old, must have testamentary intent, and the will must not be a product of undue influence or duress. The first two requirements are…
I Already Have a Will; When Should I Update My Estate Planning Documents? When someone executes a valid will, some people assume that if their wishes do not change, they should never have to revisit their estate plan. However, there are certain common events in life that should cause you…
Legitimate Taxation or “Confiscation?” Taxing Trust Income Which states can tax a trust’s income? This exact question was taken up by the Supreme Court in their recent opinion North Carolina Department of Revenue v. Kimberly Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust. North Carolina was of the opinion that they could tax…
Is it a Gift or a Loan? Your intention matters for your Estate Planning Have you ever given your child money to help them with school or a car or rent? How about loaning money to a friend? Is the intention to give a gift or a loan? How these…
The New Tax Bill At the end of last year, Congress passed the most significant tax reform since 1986 and unsurprisingly, it aroused many controversies. Its supporters are convinced that the bill is a big success for workers, pointing out positive changes already in effect, such as Wal-Mart raising its…
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