From contentious relatives to scam artists, wills are not immune to the threat of a contest. If you have an inkling such a fight could be in your estate’s future, here are some ways to limit the risk.
Trusts and estates are the two main legal structures for transferring assets to your heirs and beneficiaries. Each works in critically different ways.
My mother told me many times over the years that she had a will, and I believed her. When she passed away, we discovered that her will was 40 years old—and completely useless.
In early 2022, Bloomberg News reported that Americans can expect to inherit $72.6 trillion over the next quarter century—more than twice as much as a decade ago. With so much potential generational wealth on the line, there is always a risk that it will become the subject of a dispute.
As the American population of seniors continues to expand, the need for intentional estate planning becomes more urgent, especially for the children of aging parents.
Dealing with the loss of a loved one is never easy. When inheritances, homes, estates and mortgages are involved, tensions can run high within a family. It is easy to get lost in the paperwork and terms.
The rise in the stock market over the past several years, teamed with the passage of the SECURE Act two years ago and the scheduled 50% reduction in the size of the federal estate tax exemption four years from now, has resulted in a renewed interest in estate planning for IRA and 401k accounts owned by married couples.
Non-probate assets are those assets which do not go into an estate when the owner dies.
Because once 2026 arrives, many of the tax adjustments that were part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) are expected to expire.
One goal of estate planning is to bring some certainty to a multitude of variables. Recent increases in inflation, interest rates and market volatility, however, are causing some experts to reassess their options.