Tag: trusts
It’s the fundamental question that arises in estate and legacy planning. Should I have a will or revocable living trust? The answer to this question is crucial to estate planning. Its answer informs the very building block of a workable plan. Your goals—whether asset protection, Medicaid planning, business continuity, spousal protection, etc.—cannot be addressed until you have reached a decision on your plan’s “anchor instrument.” Every estate plan is anchored by a core document from which other components of the plan proceed. This instrument is either a will or a revocable living trust. This article explores the pros and cons of each type of plan.
Many people...
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Estate Property: Probate or Non-Probate?
An estate plan is not a stack of documents. At its heart, estate planning involves arranging one’s property and affairs for use during life and disposition after death. A person’s “gross estate” generally includes two types of property: probate and non-probate. This article provides a brief overview of these two approaches to property distribution after death.
Probate property refers to assets that must pass through the Probate Court system before being distributed to heirs. A probate case begins when a person (usually a potential heir of the deceased) asks the Court to open a proceeding for the administration of a decedent’s estate. The Court will...