During a recent estate planing consultation, I was asked by clients about the reasons why couples would need individual separate trusts vs. just having one joint trust. For most couples, whether married or not, a joint trust is sufficient, however, depending upon family and financial circumstances, separate trusts may be
In a previous post, Why Marriage is so Important in Estate Planning, we talked about how various aspects of the law, and different government agencies, favor marriage. Marriage can provide many benefits for couples that decide to tie the knot. However, to reiterate, marriage is a personal decision, and is
In our post How to Disinherit a Child, and Why You May Want (or Need) to, we discussed how to disinherit a child in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, some reasons why to do so, and why it may even be beneficial in certain circumstances to disinherit a child. That post
The thought of disinheriting a child is unimaginable to most parents. However, there are many reasons why a parent may want, or need, to disinherit their child. Although a decedent can generally disinherit their children, there are a few exceptions, or other ways in which a disinherited child may nevertheless
Marriage is a personal decision. For one reason or another, many couples are deciding that marriage isn’t right for them. Maybe this is because of previously failed marriages and not wanting to go through a contentious divorce process again; a lack of belief in the institution; not thinking a license
What is Intestacy/Intestate Succession? In our Estate Planning Basics post, we noted that avoiding intestacy is one reason to create an estate plan; but what is intestacy/intestate succession? If at the time of your death you do not have at least a will, you are deemed to die “intestate.” It
