How to Choose a Trustee

March 27th, 2024

Creating a trust as part of your estate plan is often a wise choice—if you understand how to choose a trustee. In addition to avoiding probate, a trust can provide a host of other benefits, such as increased flexibility and control. A trust can also provide protection for assets—including beneficiaries who may not have the wisdom or impulse control to responsibly manage an inheritance on their own.

Why Choosing a Trustee Matters

A living trust is one of the most popular options among various types of trusts. With a living trust, the person creating it (called the grantor, settlor, or trustmaker) also serves as the trustee (manager of the trust) and beneficiary (person who receives distributions from the trust). What this means if you create a trust is that during your lifetime, you can use, enjoy, and transfer trust assets just as if they were in your own name.

Should you become incapacitated,… Read More

Can You Decide Not to Accept an Inheritance?

January 30th, 2024

It might seem like an unlikely scenario: someone learns that they are entitled to an inheritance, and they decide not to accept it. Can you not accept an inheritance if you are named in a will or you are an heir under the law? The answer is yes, and the process is referred to in legal terms as “disclaiming an inheritance.”

While it may not be a terribly common occurrence, disclaiming an inheritance happens more often than you might think. And if you someday find yourself in a situation where you decide to not accept an inheritance, you need to understand the legal and tax implications of your decision.

Why Would Someone Not Accept an Inheritance?

Most people, of course, are grateful to receive an inheritance from the estate of a loved one. The decision to not accept an inheritance is rarely due to a rejection of the person who has died. There are many reasons to disclaim an inheritance that make perfect sense once you think about them:

To Avoid Estate, Gift, or Income Tax Consequences

Managing tax consequences is probably the most common reason to not accept an inheritance. An inheritance, particularly a large one, can have negative… Read More

Are Funeral Wishes in a Will Legally Binding?

November 27th, 2023

Thinking about your own funeral can be kind of uncomfortable, but most of us have at least a general idea of what we would want: burial or cremation, funeral or memorial service, religious or secular. Some of us have highly specific funeral wishes. For instance, one older woman we knew wanted the church at her funeral decorated with her large collection of decorative birdhouses; at the end of the services, mourners were instructed to take a birdhouse they liked to remember her by.

Whether you have imagined every detail of your send-off, or whether this is the first time you’ve thought of it, one thing is for certain: you won’t be there to carry out your own wishes. If you want the funeral you have envisioned, you will have to communicate your preferences to someone else. But what is the best way to do that? The logical way to convey your funeral wishes might seem to be a will. Read on to learn why putting your funeral preferences in a will is probably a bad idea—and to get some better ones.

Does a Will Include Funeral Wishes?

Technically, a will can include funeral wishes, but that doesn’t mean those wishes are legally binding. But there’s ano… Read More