by Susan Grissom | Mar 28, 2023 | Probate
Dealing with the death of someone we love is a stressful without the additional worry of addressing financial and legal matters. To make the process easier, here is a checklist of financial and legal matters you should deal with after a loved one’s death. This...
by Susan Grissom | Mar 21, 2023 | Probate
We regularly receive calls from persons asking if they need to probate a loved one’s estate. Unfortunately, the answer to the question is probate required depends on a number of factors including the specific laws of the state in which the deceased lived and owned...
by Susan Grissom | Mar 14, 2023 | Estate Planning
Many people love their animals and treat them as a member of the family. You might have one or more animals that may outlive you. You hope that someone in the family will take care of the pets, but you can’t always count on that – especially if you don’t...
by Susan Grissom | Mar 7, 2023 | Estate Planning
When creating an estate plan, you have several types of trusts to choose from. Almost everyone can find a trust that best meets their needs, including reducing taxes and protecting assets. A generation-skipping trust is a trust that passes your assets to your...
by Susan Grissom | Feb 28, 2023 | Estate Planning
When creating an estate plan, one of the benefits people look for is a way to protect assets from creditors, either theirs or those of their family. A Will does not protect your assets – it dictates your wishes and can include trusts that protect your beneficiary’s...
by Susan Grissom | Feb 21, 2023 | Estate Planning
A pour-over will is a will that works with a revocable or irrevocable trust. When you want to protect your privacy, one of the ways is to create a pour-over will and a trust. Instead of listing everything in the will, you fund the trust. The pour-over will refers to...
by Susan Grissom | Feb 14, 2023 | Estate Planning, Wills & Trust
This is part 5 of 5 blogs focused on funding trusts that are a part of an estate plan. In the last 4 blogs, we have focused on funding your trust with savings bonds, financial accounts, real property, and business interests to avoid probate. Today we will focus on...
by Susan Grissom | Feb 7, 2023 | Business, Estate Planning, Wills & Trust
This is part 4 of 5 blogs focused on funding trusts that are a part of an estate plan. In the last 3 blogs, we have focused on funding your trust with savings bonds, financial accounts and real property to avoid probate. Today we will focus on funding your trust with...
by Susan Grissom | Jan 31, 2023 | Estate Planning, Wills & Trust
There are many reasons to use a trust, revocable or irrevocable, as a part of an estate plan. One of the most frequent reasons is the avoidance of probate, particularly when real property is involved in multiple states. In the last 2 blogs, we have focused on updating...
by Susan Grissom | Jan 24, 2023 | Estate Planning, Wills & Trust
When your estate plan includes a trust with the goal of avoiding probate, it is important that each of your financial accounts are updated to accomplish that goal. Last week we discussed savings bonds. This week we are focused on bank accounts and brokerage accounts...
