A Key Part of Your Estate Plan: The Beneficiary Designation
After you have signed your estate planning documents, you still have more work to do. Where will you keep original documents? Who will get copies? But here’s a topic that too often gets overlooked: the beneficiary designation. What is at issue Perhaps your will or trust directs that a particular bank account is to be […]
Estate Planning is a Process, Not a Binder of Forms
JANUARY 23, 2017 VOLUME 24 NUMBER 4 There really is no question that it is important for almost every adult to have a will, and to consider signing both financial and health care powers of attorney. That is what we mean by “estate planning,” and it is important to go through the process of preparing […]
You Have a Trust — Now You Need a Beneficiary Designation
MARCH 21, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 11 You have decided to create a revocable living trust, naming your oldest daughter as successor trustee. Your trust directs that, upon your death, $10,000 is to go to each of your grandchildren, $50,000 to the Good Intentions charity, and everything else will be divided equally among your three […]
IRA Beneficiary Designation Raises Ambiguity About Intent
JANUARY 6, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 1 Here’s an estate planning question we get asked a lot: if you have created a revocable living trust and transferred essentially all of your assets to the trust’s name, should you also make the trust beneficiary of your IRA, 401(k) and other retirement accounts? It’s a great question, […]
How To “Fund” Your Revocable Living Trust
APRIL 15, 2013 VOLUME 20 NUMBER 15 We keep bumping into versions of the same story: “Mom and dad created a revocable living trust. They wanted to avoid probate, and my sister lives in a group home because she is developmentally disabled. The trust named me as trustee, and my sister’s share goes into a […]
Divorced, Separated or Filing Soon? Think About Your Estate Plan
JULY 23, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 28 We’re sorry to hear about your marriage breaking up, and we know you have a lot of other things on your mind. But could we get you to think about your estate plan for a moment? We suspect that in the process of getting divorced or separated, you […]
Retirement Account Is Community Property But Need Not Be Split Equally
MAY 21, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 20 Arizona is one of the nine U.S. states which recognize “community property” (a tenth, Alaska, allows couples to voluntarily create community property interests). The other eight community property states: California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Mention community property to a lawyer who has never […]
How To Avoid Probate — And What Doesn’t
APRIL 23, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 16 Let us try to demystify probate avoidance for a moment. Note that for the purposes of this description, we are not going to argue with you about whether avoidance of probate is good, bad, desirable or a foolish goal — we start here with the assumption that probate […]
We Take a Stab at Some Of Our Common Legal Questions
FEBRUARY 21, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 6 We get asked plenty of general legal questions. We try to give helpful answers, recognizing that we can not give specific legal advice to non-clients (and particularly to questioners from outside Arizona, where we are licensed to practice law). Often our best answer is “check with a local […]
Trust Named as IRA Beneficiary? Here’s How it Works
OCTOBER 18, 2010 VOLUME 17 NUMBER 32 Three weeks ago we wrote about how to leave an IRA (or other qualified retirement plan) to a special needs trust for your child who has a disability. Two weeks ago we wrote about whether you should (and how you would) name any trust as beneficiary of an […]
