Most people wish to have more control over who and how their assets are managed than what the state laws provide, and so they draft documents that can override the Laws of Intestacy, when those laws do not match their objectives.
What happens when a decedent’s will or trust does not provide for a decedent’s child?
Why wait? A variety of trusts—from SLATs to BDITs, GRATs and more—can help you be proactive in protecting your wealth.
The distribution of some of our assets can be governed by contracts. Examples of these contracts include life insurance, investment accounts, bank accounts and trusts.
My daughter, my only child, recently married a nice man. However, he is not responsible with his finances. I don’t want my son-in-law to have any access to her money or through a divorce via equitable distribution.
A revocable trust is great for many reasons, but it does NOT protect assets from nursing home expenses.
We may think of a spoiled heiress to a large fortune, whose parents were savvy enough to prevent her from having full access to her funds. On the other hand, we could imagine a loved one with special needs, whose needs will be provided for with trust-protected money.
Develop a successful transition plan that will provide for you, your heirs and your business.
If you have updated your estate plan during the Covid crisis and even found a way to sign your documents while maintaining social distance, do not overlook the last step of trust funding.
Windfalls can result from fortunate events, like lottery winning, and unfortunate events, like a legal settlement. Whatever the triggering event, a big injection of cash can certainly be a life-changing event in someone’s life.
