The primary benefits of revocable trusts only are available if a revocable trust is FUNDED during life. Unfortunately, experienced estate planning attorneys often have clients who delay the funding of their revocable trusts until it is too late and miss many of the benefits that these trusts provide.
Before making a decision on a beneficiary, it’s very important to check your state laws. Some states have different rules on who you can name as a beneficiary.
When you set up your estate plan it is important to coordinate the legal planning documents that you or you and your attorney create with the document provided by your retirement account custodian and/or your life insurance carrier called a ‘Designation of Beneficiary.’
If you really want to help your heirs out, these are some of the best assets to leave them.
Second honeymoons are definitely romantic. A third is even more so, unless maybe if each was with a different person. Nothing wrong with that, but it is a game-changer. The will or agreement you wrote 20 years ago, which maybe you have misplaced or forgotten, may not reflect your current thinking — or soulmate.
Beneficiary mistakes can result in retirement plan assets being transferred to unintended beneficiaries.
I am currently married but I purchased a home from my mother before my marriage. I added my younger sister to the deed at the time of purchase, so the house would remain in the family if something happened to me. I have been paying the mortgage and bills myself for three years now. However, now that I’m married to a great woman, who would get the house when I die?
Whenever you open a financial account, you’re almost always asked to name a beneficiary. Simply stated, a beneficiary of the account is someone who is entitled to the benefits of the account, typically, on the death of the account holder. If you’ve purchased life insurance, for example, you name a beneficiary who receives the benefits of the policy when you pass.
Beneficiaries of a trust typically pay taxes on the distributions they receive from the trust’s income, rather than the trust itself paying the tax. However, these beneficiaries are not subject to taxes on distributions from the trust’s principal.
Estate planning involves making a plan for the transfer of your property upon your death or incapacity. Your estate is all of the property you own, which can include cash, jewelry, cars, houses, clothes, land, retirement, investments and savings accounts. The goals of estate planning are to make sure most of your estate is transferred to your beneficiaries, you pay minimal taxes on the estate and children are assigned guardianship.