Posted on: March 23, 2022
Talking to your parents about creating an estate plan Conversations about death and dying are rarely fun. Most people avoid them because they invoke feelings about our inevitable demise. Broaching your parents' estate planning can be particularly difficult for parents and their adult children. You might keep putting this conversation off as you deal with […]
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Posted on: March 11, 2022
Successor Trustee Compensation Asking someone to serve as your fiduciary (trustee of your trust or personal representative or executor under your last will and testament) is not something you should take lightly. Serving as a fiduciary is a heavy responsibility that requires significant time and effort. As an estate planning attorney in Austin, I can […]
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Posted on: March 8, 2022
Questions to ask when hiring a fiduciary Deciding on a fiduciary, or decision-maker, often serves as a key roadblock to creating an estate plan. This post provides some guidelines I, as an estate planning attorney in Austin, recommend you ask when choosing a fiduciary. A comprehensive estate plan consists of several documents that accomplish three […]
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Posted on: March 3, 2022
When a couple engages in foundational estate planning, I often address whether to use a revocable living trust (RLT). If using an RLT makes sense, an important follow-up question to married couples is whether to use a joint RLT or separate RLTs. As an estate planning attorney in Austin, I help clients walk through what […]
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Posted on: March 1, 2022
Life insurance can protect your loved ones. Life insurance has helped many people provide for their loved ones in their envisioned way. Part of protecting your loved ones when you pass away is making sure that you have a proper estate plan in place. Another aspect is making sure that the right amount of money […]
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Posted on: February 24, 2022
Options for Establishing and Transferring Your IRAs to a Loved One Americans are using a variety of tax-deferred accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs to save for retirement. Congress currently designed laws so that people must start withdrawing the money when they retire. But, it is not uncommon for many of these accounts to still […]
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Posted on: February 22, 2022
Consider the unexpected Estate planning is about more than preparing for the inevitable. A good estate plan should also consider the unexpected. Your plan may have detailed instructions for what happens when you are no longer around, but what if something goes wrong while alive? As an estate planning attorney in Austin, clients ask me […]
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Posted on: February 17, 2022
What is a qtip trust? A qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust is an estate planning tool that married couples can use to minimize uncertainty about the future and maximize certain tax advantages. Since no one can predict how much they will own at the time of their death, which spouse will die first, whether […]
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Posted on: February 14, 2022
Marital Disclaimers and the Clayton Election Deferring, minimizing, or avoiding estate taxes altogether is often an important estate planning goal for married couples. However, uncertainty surrounding the estate tax laws and the value of their accounts and property at the first spouse’s death can leave a couple feeling that they need a crystal ball to […]
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