The Plain English Attorney Blog
Far too many attorneys overcomplicate things, making topics convoluted and difficult to understand to the average person. This blog is committed to explaining legal planning topics in an easy to understand format, in plain English. Enjoy the blogs, and please let us know if there is a topic you would like covered.
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Not every inheritance is welcome or wanted, strange as it seems. There are tax issues, potential lawsuits looming, or even just a desire to see the inheritance go somewhere else. However, there are different ways people believe they can waive off an inheritance, and not all of them are equal nor ...
The internet can be a tremendous help with research. However, there are a lot of myths, misconceptions, and outright falsehoods out there, especially when it comes to estate planning. We don’t have time to list them all, but here are the top five we have curated to help you get started.
1. Wills Do...
You’re an adult, you have a lot going on, and you’re not going to die tomorrow. As far as you know. Putting together estate planning documents may be the last thing on your mind, but it shouldn’t be if you care even a little bit about where your assets go when you pass on. Today, we’re going to cove...
One of the biggest frustrations I see in my line of work is when people who are already going through a crisis because of the death or a long-term illness of a family member end up in probate. This time-consuming, frustrating, and paperwork intensive process only compounds the grief and agony they a...
When it comes to estate planning, what you do with your estate is wide open. However, there are only two heavyweights when it comes to how you pass along your estate. You are either using a Last Will and Testament, or a revocable living trust as the base of your plan. But which one is best? We’ll go...
When it comes to estate planning, there’s always more information coming our way. It’s also not just about tax updates or changes to law, but it can often be just better ways to serve our clients through technological advancements and new platforms. While state bar sponsored continuing legal educati...
It's unfortunate, but there are numerous estate planning practices that have become standard operating procedure at law firms that are not necessarily the best thing for the clients or their families. In fact, they seem designed specifically to make more money for the law firm than they are to take ...
A general question I hear from new clients is whether or not they have to worry about "death taxes." The term "death tax" is actually political, and candidates use it as a campaign football. In actuality, there are several different taxes related to estates and inheritances that may or may not apply...
The Return of the Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust?
Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts might be making a big comeback as a popular tool to help avoid estate taxes and to help pay those taxes and other expenses without having to liquidate assets. But how do these irrevocable trusts work? What needs t...
This question keeps coming up... "Does a trust need a separate taxpayer identification number?" It depends. In general...
* Revocable Living Trusts do not need an EIN/Taxpayer ID if the Trustor(s) are still alive
* Irrevocable Trusts generall DO need a separate EIN
* Hybrid Irrevocable Trusts lik...
When it comes to special government programs, what on the surface appears to be a good deal may not really be to your advantage or especially to your estate beneficiaries. Unfortunately, chances are that you are already invested in once these “deals” That is, unless you know all of the rules and you...
