Pop icon Prince died of a fentanyl overdose in 2016. Until early this year there’s been a royal battle going on between the IRS and the estate administrator over just how much the estate is worth. As you might expect, the IRS placed a high value on the estate...
Late rock star, Prince, once sang, “Money didn’t matter yesterday and it sure don’t matter tonight.” That may have been Prince’s attitude toward money, but it was definitely his attitude about estate planning—he had none! If there had been a plan, his estate could have been settled years ago....
Saying you need an estate plan is like saying you need to eat your vegetables. You know it’s good for you but there are other things you’d rather do. A survey by Caring.com shows that in 2021, 25% of Americans ages 18-34 had some type of estate planning document,...
Alhambra's Bob Williams offers tips on being the executor of an estate.
“What in the world does that mean?” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked that question during almost 30 years in the financial industry. Clients naming beneficiaries on IRAs, 401(k) accounts, annuities, or insurance policies stop dead-in-their-tracks when asked to decide whether they want beneficiaries to...
Estate planning, like most other things, uses a vast array of tools to accomplish its goal. One of the tools is a trust. But there are more trusts, as the old farmer said, than you can shake a stick at—revocable, irrevocable, living, testamentary, charitable remainder, qualified domestic, special needs,...
When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 became law, estate tax exemptions got a substantial boost. The amount each individual could pass on free of federal estate taxes jumped from $5,490,000 in 2017 to $11,180,000 in 2018. That amount has increased each year since then based on...
It’s been said that with age comes wisdom, and age and wisdom cause us to ask questions we would never have thought of at the beginning of our adult journey. One of the questions married couples should ask—What happens if I die first?
The loss of a spouse is not...
Alhambra's Bob Williams looks at whether you should use a Will or Trust for your estate planning document.