Spiro J. Verras Blog

Have you heard of probate? It is the court-supervised process that involves the gathering, management, and distribution of a deceased individual’s assets. As you may have heard that many people look for ways to try and avoid probate because it has come to be known as costly and time consuming, you may be curious as to what is actually involved in the probate process. We will talk about that in more detail here.
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The personal representative of an estate plays an integral role in the successful and smooth administration of a person’s estate after he or she has passed away. Some of the tasks of a personal representative include gathering and managing assets, notifying creditors, seeing to the payment of continuing expenses, and paying valid creditor claims as well as seeing to the proper distribution of estate assets to the appropriate heirs. A poorly chosen personal representative can throw a wrench into the entire process.
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Sometimes, a person leaves out his or her spouse from an estate plan. Whether intentional or intentional, it is important to know that there are laws in place that guard the surviving spouse against this occurring. While such protection may be good news to the surviving spouse, it can be an unfortunate as well as a costly surprise for the intended beneficiary of the deceased as it will likely cut into the share they were set to receive.

Have you put an estate plan in place? If so, congratulations on taking this important step. A strong estate plan can help accomplish and protect your goals for the future. You may have a will, powers of attorney, a living will, and a health care surrogate among your estate planning documents.

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 that are defined by things such as the type of beneficiary, the terms of the trust, the direction for trust distributions, and the ability of a beneficiary to access assets held in the trust. Because of the structure and variety of different trust types, trusts can be useful in an Read more . . .

Have you heard of the term domicile? While most people may only think of this term as referring to the place they live, it can be much more complex and have more intricate implications when considered in the legal sense. More than where a person lives, a domicile is really a residence where a person has a permanent intention of residing. It can have significant implications on a number of levels, the estate planning context.
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While you have likely heard of a prenuptial agreement, or “prenup,” you may not fully understand what it can do. Most people, of course, use a prenup to set some financial expectations for marriage. It may outline what assets and income will be considered marital assets and which will remain separate in the event of divorce, or even death. The majority of people, even those more familiar with prenups, however, may not consider the fact that a prenup can be a Read more . . .

Did you know there are different types of property that should be accounted for in your estate plan? There is intangible property, such as retirement accounts, insurance policies, bank accounts, cash, and other financial holdings. There is real property, which includes any real estate holdings you may have. Then, there is tangible property.
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Estate planning is not something that you should set and then forget. This is because so much of estate planning is a reflection of our current standing in life. Life, however, is constantly changing.
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Changes in the law are inevitable, especially during changes of presidential administrations. With President Biden’s term as president, there are likely to be changes in the arena of estate planning and related laws. In recent years, there have been some significant changes that have had serious impacts on estate planning.
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Estate planning often involves talking about things people generally wish to avoid. Thoughts of death or incapacitation do not generally make for normally pleasant conversations. Estate planning, however, is a topic all families need to confront.
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