Downs Law Firm, P.C.
All couples can now take advantage of tax benefits for married partners, pass assets from one spouse to another with ease and qualify for Social Security spousal and survivor benefits. However, not all couples want to get married.
A common dilemma that families face upon the incapacity or death of a loved one is locating estate planning documents. While preparing the documents are the most important step, that is irrelevant if the documents are lost when they most need to be used.
When you set up your estate plan it is important to coordinate the legal planning documents that you or you and your attorney create with the document provided by your retirement account custodian and/or your life insurance carrier called a ‘Designation of Beneficiary.’
It is quite a tragedy when a loved one passes away. You may want to remember them by keeping sentimental objects from their home, or perhaps they wanted you to inherit a specific item.
Dealing with the loss of a loved one is never easy. When inheritances, homes, estates and mortgages are involved, tensions can run high within a family. It is easy to get lost in the paperwork and terms.
Your dad bequeathed you a generous sum of money on his passing. Those gifted and inherited assets, in many instances, will be considered ‘separate property,’ not marital property. That might mean that they might not be subject to division, if you divorce. However, perhaps you want to backstop that hoped for result to make the protection more likely to stick if your marriage doesn’t work out.
While it’s never fun or pleasant to think about what will happen to them if the worst should happen to us, it’s very important to consider how we can ensure that they are well cared-for when and if we are no longer able to care for them ourselves.
Vacation homes may also comprise a significant portion of the family’s wealth. Therefore, it’s understandable that homeowners want to pass their properties and family traditions to future generations.
It’s hard for a family to recuperate when the patriarchs and matriarchs have gone to glory, leaving a battle for who will carry the family’s leadership role and manage the family’s transition of wealth.
Leaving behind a huge tax bill for your heirs with the stretch IRA scuttled? Here are some ways around it as lawmakers consider an updated SECURE Act.
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