Although the primary focus of your estate plan may be to ensure that your estate assets are distributed according to your wishes after you are gone, there are other goals that you may wish to consider when creating your estate plan as well. For example, you may wish to consider the impact probate will have on your estate and on the people you leave behind. Specifically, it is wise to know which estate assets will be part of the probate process when it comes time to probate your estate. Toward … [Read more...]
Preventing a Will Contest with Careful Estate Planning
If you have executed a Last Will and Testament, you are undoubtedly counting on the terms of that Will being followed during the probate of your estate. After all, a primary motivation for creating a Will is the ability to dictate how your estate assets will be distributed when your are gone. If someone successfully challenges your Will, however, your wishes will not be honored and your estate will be distributed using the state’s intestate succession laws. A probate attorney at Nash, Nash, Bean … [Read more...]
Why Updating Your Estate Plan Is Important
If you have taken the time to create an estate plan, you have given a valuable gift to your loved ones and to yourself. Your estate plan can help grow your assets, protect you in the event of incapacity, and provide for your family in your absence. That plan, however, must be current in order for you and your loved ones to truly benefit from it. A estate planning attorney at Nash, Nash, Bean & Ford, LLP explains why updating your estate plan is almost as important as creating the plan in the … [Read more...]
The Importance of Updating Your Beneficiary Designations
Estate planning, when done properly, is an ongoing process. The estate plan you create when you are fresh out of college, single, and without many assets will not meet your needs once you are nearing retirement, married with children, and with a significant estate to protect. One thing people often forget to do with their estate plan is to update their beneficiary designations. To help prevent you from making the same mistake, the estate planning attorneys at Nash, Nash, Bean & Ford, LLP … [Read more...]
Baby Boomers — Why It’s Time to Update Your Estate Plan
If you are a Baby Boomer, you are certainly old enough to understand the value in having an estate plan in place. In fact, you may be old enough that it’s past time to update your plan if you haven’t done so in the last few years. Toward that end, the estate planning attorneys at Nash, Nash, Bean & Ford, LLP offer several reasons why Baby Boomers need to review and revise their estate plans. Baby Boomers Head into Retirement The Baby Boomer generation is larger, by far, than any previous … [Read more...]
Can Life Insurance Be Paid to a Trust?
If you are counting on life insurance to help achieve some of your estate planning goals, it is imperative that you understand how the proceeds will be treated after you are gone. This is particularly true if you are considering naming a trust as the beneficiary of the policy. The trust attorneys at Nash, Nash, Bean & Ford, LLP explain how paying life insurance to a trust works and why it is often a wise estate planning strategy. The Many Uses for Life Insurance Although there are a wide … [Read more...]
What Is the Best Way to Make Changes to My Living Trust?
A living trust is one of the most common estate planning tools. In fact, living trusts have evolved to the point where there are few estate planning goals that cannot be furthered using a living trust. One of the advantages to using a living trust to distribute assets is the fact that you can make changes to the trust, if you create the right type of living trust. To help broaden your knowledge, the living trust lawyers at Nash, Nash, Bean & Ford, LLP explain how to make changes to a living … [Read more...]
What Documents Do I Need to Start an Estate Plan?
For the average person, the hardest part of creating an estate plan for the first time is simply getting started. If you are unfamiliar with estate planning, you don’t know where to start nor which documents you need in your plan. Every estate plan should be tailored to the needs of the person creating the plan; however, there are some common documents found on most basic estate plans. To give you some idea of the documents you may wish to include in your initial estate plan, the estate planning … [Read more...]
When Is a Professional Trustee the Best Choice?
At some point, you may decide that incorporating a trust into your estate plan is a good idea. If you do, one of the most important decisions you will need to make when creating your trust will entail deciding who to appoint as the Trustee of your trust. The trust administration lawyers at Nash, Nash, Bean & Ford, LLP discuss when a professional Trustee is the best choice for your trust. What Is a Trust? A trust is a legal relationship where property is held by one party for the benefit … [Read more...]
What Happens If My Estate Lacks Sufficient Liquid Assets to Pay Debts?
One of the things people often forget to consider when creating an estate plan is the need for liquidity within the plan. Without sufficient liquid assets in your estate, your remaining assets could be at risk. The estate planning lawyers at Nash, Nash, Bean & Ford, LLP explain what could happen to your estate if it lacks sufficient liquid assets to pay all debts. What Happens after Your Death? The issue of insufficient estate liquidity won’t become apparent until after you are gone … [Read more...]
