A living trust, set up during your lifetime, is designed to allow for easy transfer of your assets. A trustee holds legal possession of the assets and property in your trust and has fiduciary duty to manage the trust prudently for the trust's beneficiaries. Most significantly, it lets you skip probate. Unlike a will, a [...]
Estate planning is about defining and living out your legacy both during your lifetime and after you are gone. A well-drafted estate plan can give you peace of mind that the people and organizations you support are well cared for. Yet there are a lot of myths that still need debunking: Myth #1: Estate planning [...]
Special Needs Trusts can hold assets for the benefit of an individual with disabilities while still allowing her to maintain eligibility for governmental assistance programs like Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. This is because the assets in a Special Needs Trust do not count toward the asset limit for such programs. The Special Needs Trust [...]
Probate refers to the general administering of a deceased person's will or the estate of a deceased person without a will. The general rule of thumb in Minnesota is that your estate goes through probate if (1) you die with more than $75,000.00 in your name alone; or (2) you die owning any real estate in [...]
Homes are one of the greatest and most expensive assets many people have. As a parent, you want your children to have your home after you die, but to ensure that your children are left with your home, there are some important steps that you must take. Your children will only be left with your [...]
Introduction to Pay-on-Death Accounts Payable-on-death accounts are a type of bank account that, at the owner's death, passes the money remaining in the account directly to the beneficiaries named by the account owner. They offer an easy way to keep money out of probate. Notify your bank that you would like to add a pay-on-death [...]
No one can predict the future with 100% certainty. And that's why now is a great time to get a jump on estate planning. Do your family and loved ones know what accounts you have, where your financial information is and what your wishes are? Now is the time to tell them. If you start [...]
How do you let your doctors know in advance what kind of medical care you would want if you can't speak for yourself? An Advance Healthcare Directive lays out who you want to speak for you and what kind of treatments you want in the event you are incapacitated. In this way, you are prepared [...]
Our clients use trusts as an asset protection tool and to help their beneficiaries avoid the cost and expense of probate. Trusts transfer legal ownership of assets to a trustee. The trustee is tasked with administering assets in the trust as the trust maker (or grantor) specifies. There may be more strings attached to an [...]
The challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic gave us time to rethink our priorities and expectations. Estate planning is one area that has received a lot of attention, and for good reason. Everyone should consider the following: Document review: Are the papers in place? The COVID-19 crisis has caused many people to recognize that things [...]
