Naming a guardian is critical and if you have a minor child you should name a guardian to care for your child in your will. But planning for a minor child should not stop with that. To often planning for minor children is focused only on death, but it should consider the risk of disability…
It is common for families to try to pass on, as a legacy to children and future generations, a family vacation home. Because of the almost endless permutations of family interpersonal relationships, financial differences, types of homes, etc. there are many different ways to plan for this. There are also many ways for this common…
If you or any of your heirs identify as LGBTQ+ it may be beneficial to consider a novel planning concept that might help protect your loved ones from various issues that might arise. This may entail appointing a person as a trust protector, and giving them specified limited powers to appoint trust assets. This may…
There are several valuable benefits to using revocable trusts other than just avoiding probate.
State laws and traditional legal documents may not address your needs. In the current political environment you should be cautious even relying on laws that may be helpful, as those may change. Thoughtful and deliberate planning is necessary to protect yourself, your family and your loved ones.
Originally posted to Forbes.com Introduction Sometimes the most important estate planning steps are simple, little or no-cost, common sense things that are just overlooked. Here’s one: the emergency envelope. You should have an emergency envelope with key documents in it for you and each person in your household. You might even go a step further…
Originally posted to Forbes.com A very common family transaction is the transfer of funds to a child or other heir. How that ubiquitous matter is handled is key to the tax and legal consequences. A recent case held that the transfer was a loan, not a gift, which was a positive tax result for the…
Holistic planning for special needs children requires not only legal knowledge but also the sensitivity to address families’ unique challenges. In this presentation, Sonia Muñoz Gallagher, a Florida Estate Planning attorney, owner of Family Wealth Law, LLC, and mother of a special needs child, shares both professional expertise and personal perspective on how practitioners can…
Originally posted to Forbes.com Estate planning for the LGBTQ community should be proactive and thoughtful, and consider new techniques in light of the current legal and social environment. Consider inter-vivos QTIP trusts, updating wills and revocable trusts to more robustly define descendants. Reviewing existing irrevocable trusts. Making more effort to avoid probate. To read the…
Wills and trusts commonly bequeath assets to a designated beneficiary and then to that beneficiary’s children, descendants, issue, etc. But how are those terms defined? Will people be excluded? Assisted reproductive technology, surrogacy and so forth may not have existed when the documents were drafted. What can be done?