One reason to review your estate plan is to make sure people you’ve assigned roles to, like executor or guardian, are still living and willing to perform these tasks, according to the article “Five common estate planning mistakes to avoid” from the Idaho Press....
The last thing a grieving family should worry about after losing a loved one is identity theft. Unfortunately, identity thieves have increasingly targeted the identities of deceased people, using their names and other identifying information to get credit cards, apply...
Socrates once said, "death is a very narrow theme, but it reaches a wide audience." Our inevitable demise is not something we like to think about; however, it's part of the human experience. As our lives evolve and change, so must our estate plans to...
You need a will to disperse your worldly goods and collected riches when you are nearing retirement or in your golden years. According to a recent Wausau Pilot & Review article titled "Why parents need the will to establish legal guardianship," you also need a...
The family was baffled. Not only was the will out of date, but it was also unsigned, and the person named as executor had died a decade before their mother died. During their mother's illness, they scrambled to find her paperwork and had no idea what her wishes were...
The news that you will be receiving an inheritance is often bittersweet because it means that somebody close to you has passed away. But you might also have mixed emotions about your legacy for reasons related to the existing accounts or property you are inheriting....
Like some of us, wealthy and famous people are often unprepared for the future. In reality, some of today's most wealthy individuals enter heaven with no will or estate plan. In contrast, others have had to deal with costly mistakes in their estates, tied up all...
What is a healthcare proxy, and what does it do? When creating an estate plan, one of the most important documents to include is a health care proxy (advance directive). A healthcare proxy is a legal document that gives another person the authority to make medical...
Many think an essential part of an estate plan is their last will or revocable trust; however, those documents are only part of the equation. Your life planning is the most critical part of an estate plan. A well-titled article, "Planning for death probably isn't the...
When distributing your assets after you die, you may have different plans for different children. Maybe you plan to leave the family home to one child while leaving a more substantial sum of money to another. Or perhaps you have a child with special needs whom you...
Having a properly prepared estate plan is especially important if you have minor children who would need a guardian, are part of a blended family, are unmarried in a committed relationship, or have complicated family dynamics—especially those with drama. There are...
How to Keep Your Child's Inheritance Out of Your In-Law's Hands About 40 to 50 percent of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. Regardless of how you feel about your child's spouse, it would be best if you faced the possibility that they could become your...
