Estate Administration & Probate

For many parents, a chief goal of an estate plan centers on providing for the financial security of one’s children. Additionally, parents often aim to ensure that personal effects are retained by and disbursed among one's children. In a perfect scenario, grown...

As human beings, we all spend a tremendous amount of time and energy worrying. In many cases, the sources of our worry are about future unknowns and things that we feel as though we have little to no control over or power to affect. This is often especially the case...

From landing a first job and buying a first home to getting married and having a baby, life is full of milestones that forever change one's perspective, responsibilities and priorities. With each life change, both big and small, it's important to take stock and make...

Being named as an executor of an estate is not a small job. Ultimately, the responsibility of the executor is to make sure that a person’s last wishes are granted, according to his or her last will and testament. As we explained in an article on our website, the...

Losing a loved one is perhaps the hardest thing a person can go through in life. Not only do you have to deal with your own emotions and the emotions of your family members, you also have to attend to the overwhelming responsibility of getting your loved one's final...

Slayer statutes are laws that block a person from receiving an inheritance when that person murders whom he or she stands to inherit from. The laws also set out what should happen to the planned estate distribution in this event. Slayer statutes have been in the news...

In the estate planning world, probate is sometimes referred to as a necessary evil. While the process can be long and costly, it is sometimes needed to make sure that an estate is divided how the decedent intended. Essentially, probate manages the transferring of a...

In estate planning, we talk a lot about heirs. That’s because a huge part of estate planning has to do with establishing who will inherit a person’s assets upon his or her death and how those assets will be passed down from there.   Decades ago,...

A fiduciary is a person or entity that is tasked with a legal duty to act solely in another party's interests. Under the U.S. legal system, the fiduciary duty is the strictest duty of care, and breaches of this duty can result in criminal and civil liability....

The unfortunate reality is that excuses abound when it comes to executing an estate plan. Indeed, statistics show that over 50 percent of the population here in the U.S. has not taken a single step in this regard, with people frequently citing the same excuses such as...