Category Archives: Estate Planning
The Eight Most Essential Estate Planning Steps
You might be surprised to find out that six in 10 adults haven’t yet drawn up basic estate planning documents, such as a will or durable power of attorney. However, this is one of the most important steps you can take to ensure that you and your loved ones are protected, should something happen…. Read More »
The Ins And Outs of Philanthropic Giving In Your Estate Plan
As Florida attorneys who regularly practice in estate planning, we frequently receive questions concerning how couples should go about incorporating philanthropic giving into their estate plan. Below, we discuss how to incorporate these goals into your plan, regardless of whether your motivations are tax-based, personal, etc.: Choosing One or More Charities Perhaps you’ve already… Read More »
Top Estate Planning Mistakes Made By Divorcing Women
Divorce is rarely an easy time for anyone, especially those who are most affected by its financial aspects. For women going through divorce, it can be especially important to stay focused on important financial matters because, according to some studies, a majority of married women leave control of major financial planning and investing to… Read More »
Simple Steps to Avoid One of the Most Common Estate Planning Mistakes
There is one major mistake that every level of wealth seems to make when it comes to estate planning, and it has to do with how they allocate assets amongst their beneficiaries and any charities they’d like to donate to, and whether that wealth comes from their IRA or other assets, such as a… Read More »
Is Anything Missing From Your Estate Plan?
In our experience as estate planning attorneys, there can be a number of dangerous misconceptions and assumptions out there when it comes to the field of estate planning. Some of them involve who does and does not need to engage in estate planning, as well as figuring out who should be named as guardians… Read More »
Estate Planning Dos and Don’ts
Unfortunately, there are a number of things that can go wrong during estate planning, particularly when you are trying to do it without consulting with a professional estate planning attorney. Below, we discuss some of these potential disasters, and how to avoid them: The Trap of Joint Ownership Many elderly couples engaged in estate… Read More »
Estate Planning For Digital Assets
Because so many transactions in our lives are conducted ‘electronically’ today, estate planning is, of course, affected by this transition. This is especially relevant when it comes to ‘digital’ assets, or any electronic items that have monetary value–like cryptocurrencies–as well as any other transactions conducted online, including any conducted by email. However, because electronic… Read More »
New Tax Law Affects Estate Planning
The new tax law that was signed into effect represents one of the most significant changes to the tax code over the last 30 years, and has an impact on estate planning. Among its many changes, the law doubles the estate, generation-skipping, and gift transfer (GST) exemptions. We discuss this in greater detail below…. Read More »
Revisiting Your Estate Plan
The recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act makes major changes to the individual estate, gift and GST tax exemptions, warranting revisiting your estate plan. However, even if your state does not follow federal estate law, there are many reasons to revisit estate planning and possibly make adjustments to your will and other important… Read More »
Performing the Duties of Executor of an Estate
Being the executor (also known in Florida as the personal representative) of an estate is no easy task. Some people may only do so once or twice in their lives—usually for their parent’s estate and/or perhaps their spouse—thus, it isn’t the kind of role where one can gain practice and become good at it…. Read More »