3 Steps to a Successful Estate Plan
By Spiro Verras
A thoughtful estate plan begins with a conversation about your life: the people you care about, the property you have worked to build, and the decisions you want to make for yourself. You do not need to arrive with every answer. These three steps can...
Unique Estate Planning Issues for LGBTQ Couples
By Spiro Verras
Your estate plan should recognize the people who matter to you and make your wishes clear. For LGBTQ individuals and couples, that may include a spouse or partner, children, close friends, and chosen family. The right plan starts with your relationships and goals rather than...
The SECURE Act, Inherited IRAs, and Your Estate Plan
By Spiro Verras
The SECURE Act changed retirement and inheritance planning when it became law in 2019. Later legislation and regulations added further changes. If your estate plan was designed around an inherited IRA lasting for a beneficiary's lifetime, it is worth reviewing the plan under today's rules.
Many...Is Joint Ownership Enough?
By Spiro Verras
Joint ownership can be convenient, and some forms allow property to pass to a surviving owner without probate. Whether it is enough for your estate plan depends on the type of ownership, the people involved, and what you want to happen after the first owner...
Discussing Estate Planning with Your Parents
By Spiro Verras
Talking with parents about estate planning can feel delicate. The conversation touches on independence, privacy, health and family relationships. I encourage adult children to approach it as an offer of support, with time to listen and room for their parents to decide what they wish...
Estate Planning Before the 2020 Election: Historical Context and Current Lessons
By Spiro Verras
This article originally considered estate planning before the 2020 presidential election. It is preserved as a historical discussion, with corrected figures and a current perspective. The central lesson remains useful: major financial decisions deserve careful planning, whether or not an election is approaching.
The historical tax...Why Consider a Life Insurance Trust?
By Spiro Verras
Life insurance can help a family maintain its routines, preserve a business, or give loved ones more choices after a death. An irrevocable life insurance trust, or ILIT, can organize that support around your estate plan.
The trustee owns the policy and receives the proceeds, then follows the...
Current Laws Surrounding Cryptocurrencies
By Spiro Verras
Cryptocurrency can be part of an estate, but leaving it to someone involves more than listing it in a will. Your plan should address ownership, lawful authority, secure access, and the tax records a future fiduciary may need.
Identify what you own and how it is...Estate Planning for Smaller Estates
By Spiro Verras
An estate does not need to be large for thoughtful planning to be useful. Clear documents can identify who should help during incapacity, who should receive property, and how the people you care about can move forward with fewer unanswered questions.
Begin with the property that...Undue Influence in Estate Planning
By Spiro Verras
An estate plan should express the wishes of the person making it. Advice, affection, and ordinary family discussion can be part of that process. Undue influence is different: it involves pressure or conduct that overcomes a person's free choice and produces a disposition that is...