Estate Planning Articles

You want the most for your child. Above all you want to make sure they get a good start in life. That includes getting the education and training they need for a good foundation and a good career. But, if you were to die before they’ve received that foundation, how can you be sure they would still get it? You could leave them money at...

If you have married someone and your spouse has children from a different relationship, those are your step-children. Even if you have helped raise the child from a very young age, unless you have adopted the child, they would not be considered your child for inheritance purposes. The implication of this can be significant. Here’s an example: When Harry met Sally, Sally had a newborn...

A “special needs” child is a child who faces a physical or mental disability and may require needs-based benefits, such as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). A special needs child is precious, like any other child. But the same planning won’t work for this unique child. Further, a lack of planning is even more problematic for a special needs child than it would be...

[caption id="attachment_14007" align="alignright" width="300"] Closeup of a support hands[/caption] As Americans grow older, more and more of us need help with our daily activities. It could be a little help or a lot of help, depending on the situation. Of course, the level of assistance we need can change over time. According to a recent study by Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement, 68%...

Carolyn Thompson, 49, of Brandon, South Dakota, passed away peacefully September 28, 2019 after a long and courageous battle with leukemia. Carolyn died with the confidence she would wake up in heaven. Carolyn will live forever in the hearts of her children Taylor, Rachel, and Will. They were the loves of her life, her perfect gifts from God, as she called them. Carolyn often said...

We all want to help our kids financially, but how much is too much? Businessman billionaire Warren Buffet was quoted in a 1986 Fortune article that, even if you had ample wealth, one should leave your kids “enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.” Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and other philanthropists in the U.S....

Whether or not we plan to do so, each of us will face death eventually. However, by planning, we can make our passing easier and better in many ways for those we leave behind. This is the second of a series on the ways we can ease the transition through planning. This second article focuses on the importance of the way in which you leave...

Whether or not we plan to do so, each of us will face death eventually. However, by planning we can make our passing easier and better in many ways for those we leave behind. The first article in the series demonstrated how you could gain privacy from the public by planning and using a trust rather than going through the public probate process. The second...

Whether or not we plan to do so, each of us will face death eventually. However, by planning, we can make our passing easier and better in many ways for those we leave behind. This is the first of a series on the ways we can ease the transition through planning. This first article focuses on privacy. The next article will focus on how you...

When problems arise in an estate plan, often the source is a lack of clarity. Tom Petty died in 2017 and left a fortune estimated by Newsweek to be around $38 million. Petty did some things right, but he could have done better. What did Tom Petty do right? First, he planned. Most people just let nature take its course and fail to plan. There’s an old...