What Happens When a Loved One Dies Without an Estate Plan in Place?
There is one question I often hear after a parent died without any estate planning documents in place. It is: “What now?” The answer to this question varies according to the types of assets the decedent had. In this post, we look at the different types of assets and who gets what when there is […]
Complexities of Estate Planning When You Have Blended Families
Becky Cholewka: Some of the most complex planning we do is for blended families. Blended families is what I call the Brady Bunch. They’re children from a different relationship, whether both husband and wife have children from another relationship or just one of them do. The reason why this type of complaining is so complex […]
3 Biggest Misconceptions About Estate Planning
Becky Cholewka: Today, I want to go over the three biggest misconceptions about estate planning. Misconception number one, estate planning is only for rich people. That is not true. Everyone has an estate. More importantly, most people have friends or family that they love and they want to ensure that they are taken care of, […]
How Often Should You Review Your Estate Documents
Becky Cholewka: One of my most frequently asked questions is, how often do I actually need to review my documents? I always tell people a couple of different things. Number one. There’s something that you should do each year to your estate planning documents. Pull out your binder, your folder, or wherever you keep them, […]
Why Estate Planning is Vital for Unmarried Couples
Becky Cholewka: Some of the saddest phone calls I have are when I am talking to someone and their partner has recently passed away, and they’re not married. We have a common law marriage. Unfortunately, in Arizona, there is no such thing. In fact, no states do not have or own a common law marriage. […]
Revocable vs Irrevocable Trusts
Becky Cholewka: Did you know there are actually about 30 to 40 different types of trusts? They mainly fall into two categories though revocable and irrevocable trusts. That pretty much is exactly what it sounds like. A revocable trust, you can change, amend, or revoke. An irrevocable trust, you cannot. One of the questions I […]
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 […]
Pre Planning Your Funeral
Becky Cholewka: Part of estate planning that a lot of people never even think about is thinking about how you want to be buried, or cremated, or what type of funeral you want. A couple years ago, my husband and I on Black Friday, that was our Black Friday shopping extravaganza. We went to Mountain […]
What To Expect When You Call Our Office
Becky Cholewka: Hey, everyone. I just wanted to walk you through our process if you choose to call Cholewka Law for any of your estate planning needs. What happens is when you call, you will probably reach Peg on our phone. She’s our main receptionist, and she’s a little chit-chatty, so she’s going to want […]
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 […]