A Commitment
to Each Client.
Estate planning involves making key decisions about managing and distributing your assets after passing. A critical part of this process is appointing a trustee. This individual or entity manages your trust, ensuring your wishes are honored and your beneficiaries...
Families may sometimes question the validity of estate planning documents. Some people draft wills when they are too old or too sick to really understand the implications of their estate planning decisions. Others may establish estate planning documents that include...
Much of estate planning concerns legal documents such as wills and trusts. However, it requires an executor or trustee to implement the instructions in those documents. The executor executes the will and trustees manage the assets held in trusts. These are fiduciary...
People generally have to pay income taxes regardless of how much they earn or the source of their income. They file an annual income tax return to reconcile what they paid with their final financial information for the year. However, some people become complacent...
When parents draft estate plans, they do not always leave the same amount of assets to every beneficiary. This is known as leaving unequal bequests, and it has been growing more common over the years. Rather than giving four children 25% ownership of the family home,...
Documents such as wills and trusts are a very important part of estate planning. They provide instructions on how an individual’s assets will be addressed upon their death. However, documents are only one part of the process. The individuals tasked with carrying out...
Most estates will pass through probate. This is a court-administered process supervising the execution of a deceased’s estate. It can take months, or in complex cases, years. During this time the beneficiaries will be unable to access the assets they are due to...
When life throws curveballs, ensuring that your estate plan reflects any significant changes can help your arrangements function properly. A divorce is one life event that may warrant some alterations to your existing plan. In Illinois, this transition period offers a...
Couples often do their estate planning together, if only to make certain that they both have all of their bases covered and are on the same page. Most of the time, couples choose either mirror wills or mutual wills. Mirror wills Mirror wills are essentially two...
When making an estate plan, it’s important to be aware that the transfer of assets can take some time. Just because you chose a specific beneficiary to inherit a certain amount of money does not mean that they take control immediately when you pass away. The estate...
