Category: Wills & Trusts

A trust can be a great mechanism for distributing assets to someone else while shielding those assets from taxes, probate costs. It can also help limit use of asset spending to certain, specified purposes. To create the trust, the trust settlor sets up the trust and funds it by transferring ownership of assets over...

In developing your estate plan, there are a number of dilemmas you may face. Yes, you may want to leave certain financial resources to your loved ones, but you may worry about where that money will go, how it will be spent, and when it will be spent. These are natural concerns. You are,...

You may have heard of the many potential benefits of including a trust in your estate plan. Are you worried about probate? A trust can be a great way to avoid it! Are you worried about your beneficiary’s ability to manage an inheritance? A trust can pace and condition distributions to protect the inheritance...

If you have never heard of a living trust, now is a great time to learn. A useful estate planning tool, a living trust is, aside from a Last Will and Testament, one of the most commonly used mechanisms for transferring assets to your family and loved ones upon your passing away. For...

To establish a trust, the trust “settlor” transfers property into the trust to be managed by the “trustee” appointed by the settlor. The trustee is charged with holding trust property for the trust beneficiaries as well as administering the trust according to the terms set forth by the settlor. A person may choose to...

A revocable trust is named so because it can be easily altered, amended, or, of course, revoked. This flexibility is one of the many appealing features of a revocable trust and its benefits make it an attractive addition to many estate plans. To establish a revocable trust, the trust settlor, or grantor, creates the...

If you do not yet have a will in place, there is no time like the present to execute a legally sound, strong will that will help preserve your legacy and protect a brighter future for your loved ones. While putting a will in place is too important to put off, there are also...

Estate planning is about so much more than a will, although that can be an important part of an estate plan. Trusts, for instance, may be much of a mystery to most, but remain valuable legal tools when properly implemented in the right estate plan. Trust types and purposes, however, can widely vary...

To establish a trust, a trustor, or settlor, transfers ownership of certain funds and assets to a trust. The funds held in trust, the trust principle, are then managed for the benefit of the trust beneficiaries. This is a trust in its most basic sense. There are, however, a variety of different trust types...

A will is often a central feature of a strong estate plan. While many people may think of a will as something where you set forth who you want to leave your assets and other property to when you pass away, it can be so much more. When you die without having a valid...