So, you inherited a retirement account. Before you make any decisions on when and how to access the money, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the rules that apply to different beneficiaries.
You should start by talking to an estate planning attorney who can look at your assets and income and see what impact they will have on Medicaid eligibility.
Remember that a will goes through probate, so a husband and wife typically try to avoid it by using joint ownership or beneficiary designations. However, they’re often mistaken by believing the will still controls their estate.
Gifting sounds pretty simple, but there are many ways to do it. There are also several tax ramifications to be aware of.
Do you have accounts, records or information that are accessed using your mobile phone, through an internet connection, or by using a keyboard or through a touch-screen or tablet?
Estate planning is the process of transferring the management of your assets, if and when you are unable to manage them yourself due to disability or death. Whether you have $100 or $100 million you should have an estate plan.
For most of us, considering the distribution of the property we have accumulated over our lives is a painful reminder of our mortality.
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.
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.
Whenever you open a financial account, you’re almost always asked to name a beneficiary. Simply stated, a beneficiary of the account is someone who is entitled to the benefits of the account, typically, on the death of the account holder. If you’ve purchased life insurance, for example, you name a beneficiary who receives the benefits of the policy when you pass.
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