Articles Posted in Estate Planning

Perhaps at the beginning of your marriage, you met with an estate planning attorney. If children have recently entered your life, however, it’s important to make sure that your estate plan contains various important details. This article reviews just some of the most key considerations that you must have if you plan on updating your child’s estate plan.

# 1 – Address Who Would Function as Guardian

It’s critical to make sure you consider who would take care of your children if they were still young when you and your partner passed away or become incapacitated. If you have not made these arrangements, you are leaving your child in a vulnerable position.

In the recent Texas case of In Re Estate of Tillotson, the administrator of a deceased individual’s estate filed a motion to have the deceased individual’s husband turn over the deceased individual’s community property interest in several accounts. When the trial court granted the motion, the surviving spouse appealed. 

The court of appeals found that the administrator had the power to file a motion seeking partition of community property. The appeals court noted that the state’s estate code provides that an executor or administrator through a written application can request the partition and distribution of an estate. The court also noted that if an intestate deceased spouse survives a child, the deceased spouse’s undivided one-half interest in the community estate passes to the deceased spouse’s children. 

The appeals court went on to discuss the Texas estate code that permits a surviving spouse to seek a partition but noted that this code does not make this right exclusive to the surviving spouse. Consequently, the court of appeals affirmed the trial court’s order.

If you decide to create a trust as part of your estate plan, there are various tasks that you must successfully navigate including appointing a trustee who can oversee the trust. A trustee performs the critical task of both managing the trust and distributing assets in a manner that conforms to the trust’s terms. 

While a trustee performs a critical task, many people have misconceptions about the role. For example, some people think that picking a friend or family member to serve as a trustee is a wise idea because it’s a potentially cost-effective option. In reality, there are some distinct benefits to selecting a professional trustee. This article reviews some of the important to consider when deciding whether to select a professional trustee or a loved one to function as a trustee for your trust.

Experience Can Prove Helpful

Senator Bernie Sanders recently introduced the “99.5% Act”, which is focused on the assets of the top 0.5% of wealthy Americans. This marks the first legislation introduced following President Joe Biden’s coming into office that would result in the lowering of the federal estate tax exemption. For many people interested in passing on assets to loved ones, it’s critical to understand the nature of these changes.

Changes Introduced by the Bill

The bill would lead to several critical changes in many of the country’s federal tax provisions, which include:

If you have a Google account, you have various data as well as tools to manage your account. What many people fail to realize, however, is that you can tell Google how to manage your account as part of your estate plan. People rely on Google accounts and applications for various purposes including managing documents, photos, and spreadsheets. Google accounts are also becoming increasingly common because a Google account is needed before a person can use Android phones, tables, or other Android-based devices. Managing digital assets, however, is often overlooked when people engage in estate planning. To better prepare you for navigating this process, this article reviews some critical details to consider about implementing your Google account into your estate plan.

# 1 – Make An Estate Plan for Your Google Account

There are several important steps that you should take while creating an estate plan for your Google account. These steps include the following: