Do You Have an Estate?
My business partner Shanna Tingom is a financial planner. She recently told me that one of her most frequently asked questions is, “What is the difference between a trust vs. an estate?” I actually hadn’t heard that one before. Shanna then told me the usual follow-up statement is, “I don’t have an estate.” Let’s clear […]
How Not To Get Legal Advice
Becky Cholewka: I wanted to do a quick video on how not to get legal advice because, unfortunately, this is one of the biggest areas that I see a lot of people trip up on. A lot of people are getting legal advice from their tax person, their financial planner, their brother who lives in […]
Setting Up POD or TOD On Your Bank Accounts
Becky Cholewka says: I wanted to take a moment and give you a couple tips about your checking savings and brokerage accounts. One way to make sure these accounts avoid the probate process is to make sure you have a beneficiary listed on each of your accounts. That does not mean one beneficiary form per […]
How Often Should You Review Your Estate Plan?
Becky Cholewka: I always like assigning homework to my clients. It’s fun for me, because it’s something that somebody else has to do instead of me. One of the things of homework that I always assign is to make sure that my clients pick an important date, some date that they will remember, an anniversary, […]
How Often Should You Review Your Estate Plan?
Becky Cholewka: I always like assigning homework to my clients. It’s fun for me, because it’s something that somebody else has to do instead of me. One of the things of homework that I always assign is to make sure that my clients pick an important date, some date that they will remember, an anniversary, […]
Probate in Arizona: Everything You Need to Know
A lot of angst seems to surround the word “probate,” due mainly to general unfamiliarity with its meaning. Simply put, probate is the legal process that takes place upon a person’s death, much of which is avoided if the decedent took proper steps during his or her estate planning. This process involves: Proving the validity […]
Let’s Eat Grandma! Let’s Eat, Grandma!
(Commas save lives)
I saw this t-shirt in the Sky Mall magazine a few years back and completely cracked up. Crazy as it may seem, punctuation, grammar, and correct usage of legal words and phrases can save thousands of dollars on litigation and estate administration costs. For example, last month I had a client whose father had prepared […]
Who Owns Digital Assets?
These days, most of us have our music, movies and books on our computers or our phones. But what will happen to these collections once the owner dies? You may want your heirs to have these collections, but it isn’t that easy to pass them along since there are no physical copies. User agreements with […]
Is A Trust For You?
Is a trust necessary for you or can you get by with a simple will? http://gty.im/101687451 There are several factors to consider when deciding if you should spend the money needed to set up a trust. Here are a few, says an article in Forbes: What part of your estate can you protect from probate? […]
Be Careful With IRA Beneficiary Forms
Despite what some people believe, retirement accounts are not included in wills. An article in the New York Times notes that who gets the money invested in a retirement account such as an IRA depends on who is named on the account’s beneficiary form. Lots of people make mistakes when it comes to retirement accounts. […]
