Latest Blog Posts

Going home for the holidays is a family tradition where you get to reconnect with your loved ones whom you haven’t seen in months, or even years. As families gather to give thanks and spend quality time with one another over this and next month’s special holidays, it may also be a good time to discuss some weightier topics including aging parents’ wishes and intent with regard to estate planning matters. ...

Substance addiction is by no means rare, impacting as many as one in seven Americans. Because of its prevalence, navigating a loved one’s addiction is actually a relatively common topic in everyday life. But you should also consider it when working on your estate planning. Whether the addiction is alcoholism, drug abuse, or behavioral like gambling, we all want our loved ones to be safe and experience a successful recovery. A properly created estate plan can help....

7 Common Planning Mistakes to Avoid From time to time, it’s good to review why having a complete, up-to-date estate plan is so important. In addition to confirming our own actions, it can provide us with valuable information to pass along to friends and family who, for whatever reasons, have yet to act. So, here are seven common estate planning mistakes to avoid....

When you pass away, your family may need to visit a probate court in order to claim their inheritance. This can happen if you own property (like a house, car, bank account, investment account, or other asset) in only your name. Although having a will is a good basic form of planning, a will does not avoid probate. Instead, a will simply lets you inform the probate court of your wishes - your family still has to go through the probate process to make those wishes legal. Now that you have an idea of why probate might be necessary, here are 3 key (albeit not the only) reasons why you want to avoid probate if at all possible....