You are married. You have a couple of young, healthy children. You are still young yourself. Life is good. Why would you have to worry about estate planning? Isn’t that for when you die, or for people older than you? …
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Putting your Financial House in Order in April
If you haven’t heard already, April is National Financial Literacy Month. You should expect to hear more about financial and estate planning during this month. The goal of Financial Literacy Month is to “alert, educate, motivate and assist the American …
Reasons to do Estate Planning
As of January 2, 2013, the Federal estate and gift tax exemption amount has been permanently increased. If you pass away in 2013 and your lifetime and after-death transfers are under $5.125 million, your estate passes to your loved ones, …
Protecting Your Assets From Your New Spouse
You are single again after the death of your first spouse. Or maybe you are divorced. Now you have met someone and have fallen in love, again, and are getting married for the second, or third, time. You have accumulated …
How to Leave an Inheritance to your Spouse
If you are you married and you plan on leaving anything to your spouse when you are gone, you have lots of options. There are many ways to leave an inheritance to your spouse. If you are not currently or …
Shackup Agreement
You have decided to move in with your partner. You have a committed relationship that may even have been blessed by your church, but for a variety of reasons, you will not be married. It could be that you are …
How to Protect Your Property From Yourself
If you are like most people, you are concerned about what happens to your property and other stuff after you become “old and funny.” You have worked hard your entire life to accumulate what you have and you want to …
September Savvy EP Drafting State & EP Docs When You Move
You spend your summers in Michigan. The rest of the year, you live out-of-state in Florida or another state. You have your will, financial power of attorney and healthcare power of attorney and maybe a trust. But they were prepared …
With Estate Planning Fees You Get What You Pay For – Part I
I regularly get asked, “How much does a will cost?” Or, “How much is a trust?” Well, this is not a simple question to answer because a will or a trust is only a single component in an overall estate …
May Savvy Separate Tr Offer More Benefits
For most of my married clients, I typically prepare separate trusts for each spouse instead of a joint trust for both spouses. I am occasionally asked why. The reason is very simple, it is what most of my clients want. …