If you and your spouse have been married for decades and fully intend to remain together for the rest of your lives, you may think the easiest way to handle your estate plan is with a joint will. A true joint will for a married couple is one document signed by both...
Many couples remain lifelong partners without ever getting married. While you may not feel like you need a marriage certificate, if you want to ensure that you and your partner provide for each other after one of you passes away, you need to put an estate plan in...
One of the key components of an estate plan is a will. Through this document, inheritances can be passed on to cherished family members, gifts can be given to charity and guardians can even be named for minor children. For a will to be valid, certain protocols have to...
Your will is an important part of a bigger estate plan. It allows you to designate who gets what when you die and name someone as a guardian for your minor children. However, a will isn’t for everything. This document has limits, and some things should be left out....
When you were a child, your parents would have handled matters for you that you were not yet mature enough to deal with. On becoming an adult, you start to gain your independence. Unfortunately, as you approach your elderly years this process starts to reverse and you...
While creating your will, one of the most important decisions you must make has to do with who will execute it. Most often, you may task your spouse, adult children or a close confidant with this role. And in instances where you have complex family dynamics or...
An important part of estate planning doesn’t necessarily involve any estate planning documents. It involves designating beneficiaries for your retirement accounts as well as things like investment accounts and life insurance policies. You do that directly on the...
As you start preparing for retirement or review your finances in your golden years, you may derive quite a bit of joy from the idea of passing on some of your wealth to your children when you die. An inheritance could lead to a more comfortable retirement for your...
Many people assume that an estate plan is only necessary for wealthy individuals, but this isn’t at all the case. Instead, adults of all wealth levels should have an estate plan documented. Your estate plan does several things. The one that most people think about is...
Your elderly parent has lived through a lot. They’ve taken care of themselves for decades and successfully raised a family. Before retirement, they also ran a successful company. In short, they are used to being independent. The reality is, however, that there will...
