What to Expect From an Estate Plan An estate plan is more than a will or a living trust. It is a combination of many documents. Here is what you should expect to receive in any estate plan: What to Expect from a Will-Based Plan If your plan is a Will-based plan, you should receive […]
COVID-19 lawsuits are filling the courthouses. This comes after a long line of other lawsuits over home sales, the ADA, employment law, car accidents, unpaid bills, and let’s not forget divorce. To protect adult children from losing generations of wealth, parents are leaving their inheritance to their children, in trust, with the adult child in […]
Avoiding ancillary probate is easy. By putting real estate into something called a nominee trust or living trust, ancillary probate proceedings and the associated expense can be avoided. As an alternative to a living trust, a limited liability company can be created, the real estate transferred to the company and then ownership in the company can be transferred to the heirs through the primary probate proceeding…
The A/B Trust is a type of Revocable Living Trust often used by married couples, wherein two trusts (i.e., trust A, also known as the “marital deduction trust”, and trust B, also known as the “credit shelter trust”) are created upon the death of the first spouse. By distributing the couple’s estate into two trusts when the first spouse dies, each spouse can, in theory, pass the maximum amount of property allowed to avoid federal estate taxes.
Don’t have a will? Well, don’t feel bad. You’re in good company. Many celebrities have died without an estate plan. Here are just a few with interesting twists. Prince Rogers Nelson (Prince) Prince died on April 21, 2016 and apparently had no will. While the value of Prince’s estate is the subject of speculation, it […]
Do you really need a revocable trust estate plan? We have no hard and fast rule on this subject because there are additional upfront costs and then continuing costs of a revocable trust plan. The continuing costs revolve around making sure certain assets are in the revocable trust or made payable to the revocable trust […]
I have been drafting estate plans for about twenty years. For about twenty years, I have successfully avoided making trusts the beneficiary of retirement accounts, save for a few occasions. However, recent federal court cases stripping the asset protection benefits of inherited Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) have put an end to that streak. Protecting retirement accounts from a beneficiary’s creditors requires a stand-alone retirement account trust.
Understanding Local Colorado Real Estate Law Thinking about buying real estate in the Bahamas? Maybe a timeshare in Barbados? A quaint villa in the French West Indies? Well, before you do, you may want to research the local real property taxes, think about how this little piece of paradise fits into your overall estate plan […]
Do you need a Colorado Gun Trust of a Colorado Gun Trust Lawyer? There are certain restrictions and regulations that apply to the purchase and ownership of Title II Firearms, which are firearms regulated by the federal government pursuant to the National Firearms Act (“NFA)”). When individuals purchase a Title II Firearm, the Chief Law […]
At least once a year we get a frantic call from a parent with a slightly out of control minor or adult child. The question from the parent is, “Can the child get at the money in the custodial account”? The answer is usually a simple yes or no, but it underscores a more important question. How should parents make cash gifts to children? The answer is pretty easy. Use an irrevocable trust and not a 2503(c) or minors trust.