Have you just welcomed a new baby to your family? Protecting your newborn means more than car seats and babyproofing. Creating an estate plan to protect your child no matter what life brings is an often overlooked, but important step to complete. Many people delay establishing an estate plan. They delay due to lack of […]
Living Trusts
Homestead Exemptions and Estate Planning from Austin Estate Planning Attorney Liz Nielsen
The term homestead may seem like a throwback to pioneer days, but homestead exemption laws are directly relevant to today’s estate planning and can play a valuable role in a modern plan. Almost every state has some form of homestead exemption law primarily focused on reducing property taxes and protecting home equity from creditors. While the […]
Who Should Be Your Successor Trustee? From Austin Estate Planning Attorney Liz Nielsen
If you have a revocable living trust, you probably named yourself as the initial trustee so that you can continue to manage your financial affairs. However, someone else will eventually need to step in to administer your trust when you are no longer able to act due to incapacity (the inability to manage your affairs) […]
Does Your Revocable Living Trust Reduce Your Federal Estate Tax Bill? From Austin Estate Planning Attorney Liz Neilsen
Many believe that once they set up and fund a revocable living trust, property held in the trust will completely avoid federal estate taxes after they die. In reality, a Revocable Living Trust (RLT) does not exactly provide any unique estate tax avoidance strategies. The primary mechanisms for reducing estate taxes—the unlimited marital deduction and […]