Part of protecting your loved ones when you pass away is making sure that you have a proper estate plan in place. Another aspect is making sure that the right amount of money is available to carry out your goals for their futures. Life insurance has helped many people provide for their loved ones in the […]
Avoiding probate is a common goal for individuals deciding how they want their money and property to be handled when they pass. It is a worthy one and is regularly promoted by estate planning attorneys across the nation. However, probate is not an inherently bad process and does not always need to be avoided. Here we […]
Working with an attorney to draft a trust agreement for estate planning purposes is an important step. But just getting the document drafted and signed is not enough. For any trust to be effective, you must complete the process of trust funding as soon as you can. But what exactly is funding? A common way to […]
In 2008, Congress recognized the need for the public to understand the importance and benefits of estate planning by passing House Resolution 1499, which designated the third week of October as National Estate Planning Awareness Week. Nevertheless, according to a 2021 survey conducted by Caring.com, only 33 percent of adults in the United States have any […]
Estate planning can be a very difficult process. While it is not brain surgery, making the decision to move forward with an estate plan requires us to face the fact that we will not live forever. This thought stops many people in their tracks. Others talk themselves out of seeing a qualified attorney to create an […]
Today we have a special guest post on selling an Estate Home from Skelly Agency, a local Austin real estate firm. If you find yourself dealing with the enormous task of selling a deceased loved one’s estate home, the key is to not get overwhelmed along the way. Take simple steps and involve qualified professionals who can […]
As a single individual, you may feel overwhelmed about estate planning. If you don’t have many assets, you may wonder if an estate plan is even worth it. Yet, for single people, estate planning matters very much, since there is more than just probating your estate. Questions of who can act on your behalf when you […]
When two people get married, the property they obtain during their marriage is called marital property. This includes anything from real property like homes and rental properties, stock options, investment accounts, heirlooms, and employment income. A common assumption is that spouses want to share their property once they’re married. This assumption is not always true, however. […]
Even if you do not listen to pop music, it has been hard to ignore the recent news about Britney Spears and the #FreeBritney movement trending on social media. What is this movement all about? And why should average Americans care? Let’s take a walkthrough of conservatorships and some of their pitfalls. In 2008, pop singer […]
If you were to ask attorneys across the country how often they get phone calls like the following, the answer (“Very frequently”) may surprise you. The phone call might go something like this: “Hi, this is John Jones. My dad, Bill Jones, passed away recently and we have torn the house apart looking for his estate […]
