Over the years I’ve had clients who knew they’d been named in estate planning documents as executor of an estate, and I’ve had others who found out only after a relative died that they had to settle an estate. In most cases, I’d get a call asking, “What do...
Death tax, inheritance tax, estate tax—call it what you will, they all mean that some government entity wants to put its hand in your pocket or your heirs’ pockets, after your demise.
On the federal level, the estate tax issue is not as big a deal as it was back...
You’ve done all the planning. Your trust is set up. You’re comfortable that your estate will be distributed exactly as you want. There’s just one more decision to make—an important one. Who should be the trustee?
James J. Ferraro, JD is vice president and legal counsel at Argent Trust Company....
You spend a lifetime earning, saving, acquiring. But the old adage is true—you can’t take it with you. So, what do you do with your assets when you’re gone? How do you want them distributed? That’s where a good estate plan comes in. However, some estate plans are based...
For months now, we’ve been told by the media and by friends and neighbors about all the ways people have been affected by COVID-19. But here’s one you may not have heard about—losing the family home after the death of parents or grandparents who were receiving Medicaid benefits for...
What to do? What to do? The 2020 presidential election is just around the corner and questions are being asked about how to protect your wealth, no matter who’s elected.
Each candidate has broadly divergent views about income taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes; how much you keep and how...
Oh, my! I cringe every time I hear that someone has added their kids’ names to the deed of their house as an estate planning technique. It’s done for the right reasons, but it often backfires.
Sometimes, elderly people will add kids to the deed, thinking they’re removing the house...
My parents were depression-era babies. And like many of their generation who experienced those years of economic desperation, when things improved, they planned and saved for the future to avoid that kind of distress ever again. They taught me to do the same.
But there was another philosophy prevalent among...
