Probate Attorney Blog

Bonnie and Clyde created a trust to ensure that when they passed away they no one would have to worry about probate and the people they cared about the most used the money and assets they were going to inherit in a way that actually benefited their lives. Or so they thought. See, when Bonnie and Clyde finalized and signed their living trust they felt so good about it that they thought they were done with the process. That explains…

When someone dies and they have to go through probate to transfer their property to their heirs the court will at some point issue something called Letters of Administration. Today we are going to talk about what those are. The non-technical definition of Letters of Administration (often just referred to as “letters”) is the document that appoints a specific person to be the personal representative, giving them the authority to act on behalf of the decedent’s estate to take care…

When it comes to estate planning and IRA’s most people think simply designating a beneficiary to take the IRA when you pass is good enough. But that’s not exactly the case. There are a few reasons why this is a problem. First, the beneficiary has complete control to withdraw all of the funds at once. That sounds like it might be fine, except for one problem: when they pull that money out, assuming you had a traditional IRA, they will…

I had someone call me today who was in some trouble. Their husband had Alzheimer’s and had finally gotten to the point that they were no longer had full mental capacity. It was at that time that they realized there were certain things they wanted to do with their home, with their finances, and with their estate plan that would no be very difficult to do because of the current mental state of the husband. As I spoke with the…

A lot of people out there think the do it yourself will is the way to go. They think they will be saving money. They think “how hard could it be?” What most people don’t think about is, “what if you get wrong?” What if your kids don’t end up with the people you want them to? What if that deadbeat brother of yours gets a sizable inheritance because you didn’t disclaim him correctly? These are just a couple of…

We all know estate planning attorneys are expensive – at least the good ones are – and at least the good ones are when things start to get complicated. But why? Why are estate planning attorneys so expensive? It’s pretty simple really – good estate planning lawyers are expensive because they are providing a tremendous amount of value. Consider what you would be willing to pay to ensure that your family is protected. Consider what you would be willing to…

Imagine a scenario where your brother or sister is getting divorced. They are going through the process when your brother is tragically killed in an accident. Wouldn’t it be terrible to get the news that on top of having to deal with the tragic loss of your brother you are also going to have to deal with the fact that his soon to be ex-wife gets all of their jointly owned property and half of his separately owned property? Or,…