Estate Planning with Homestead Statutes in Mind
You definitely want your home to be protected after you die. Some states have homestead allowance statutes to make sure that your spouse and any minor children have a place to live after you die. Your [more…]
Are You Spending Too Much for Investment Management?
Many people believe they must spend a lot of money to receive quality investment management services. That may have been true once, but it isn’t true any longer. Professional investment management services [more…]
Estate Planning First Steps: How Much Is Your Estate Worth?
Estate planning is all about what you want to have happen to you, your dependents, and your stuff when you’re gone. Estate planning also covers what happens if you’re alive but can’t make decisions for [more…]
Understanding Estate Planning Designations
Estate planning provides for the efficient and effective transfer of assets at your death. You may have heard of terms like joint tenants and beneficiary designations [more…]
Bypassing Probate with Beneficiary Designations
You may be able to meet your estate planning goals very simply through the proper use of beneficiary designations. You’re likely familiar with beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, 401 [more…]
What Is a Living Trust?
A living trust is a legal document created by you (the grantor) during your lifetime. Just like a will, a living trust spells out exactly what your desires are with regard to your assets, your dependents [more…]
Going Beyond a Will: Other Estate-Planning Documents You Need
Even with all your assets properly titled, your beneficiary designations in order, and a will or revocable living trust in place, you still have a few very important issues to take care of and documents [more…]
How Financial Advisors Get Paid
When choosing a financial advisor, it helps to understand how your advisor gets paid because those who live off commissions may have different goals than advisors who work on salary. All people in the [more…]
How to Select a Personal Financial Advisor
Savvy consumers interview a few different financial advisors to learn more about each one’s background, experience, specialties, and target clientele, as well as his or her listening skills and communication [more…]
Does the Estate Need a Special Administrator?
A special administrator is a temporary fiduciary appointed by the probate court in many states to marshal and preserve the assets when a delay is foreseen in appointing a permanent fiduciary. This may [more…]
How to Determine a Decedent's Domicile
Much of estate administration rests on the location of the decedent’s domicile. You must know this location in order to figure out where you must probate the assets and to what state you must pay taxes [more…]
Does an Estate Need Ancillary Administration?
An estate requires ancillary administration if it has real estate subject to probate located in a state other than the decedent’s state of domicile. As executor of such an estate, you must have ancillary [more…]
Does an Estate Need a Guardian?
In some cases the probate court appoints a guardian for an estate’s heir to take care of the heir’s affairs and manage his or her assets. A common case is one where the decedent has died and the heir is [more…]
How to Decide between Voluntary Administration and Formal Probate
After you determine that an estate includes probate assets, you must decide whether you need the formal probate process to administer the estate or if voluntary administration is available to you. Voluntary [more…]
How to Petition for Probate of a Will
To start the probate process, you will need to petition for probate of the will. These guidelines can vary state by state. However, generally, the first step is to file the decedent’s will in the probate [more…]
Who Can Petition for Estate Administration when No Will Exists?
If the estate’s decedent dies intestate, without a valid will, you may need to file a petition to serve as administrator. Check the law in the state of the decedent’s estate to determine what type of estate [more…]
Executor's Duty: Informing Surviving Spouse of Decision Rights
It is your duty as executor to inform the surviving spouse of certain rights as soon as possible after the death of the decedent. Surviving spouses may have some important decisions to make with regard [more…]
How to Collect a Decedent's Employee Benefits
The estate’s executor is responsible for collecting any employee benefits, or death benefits for which the decedent may be eligible. These may include retirement accounts, continued COBRA health benefits [more…]
How to Collect a Decedent's Life and Loan Insurance Proceeds
One of an estate executor's jobs is to find all the decedent’s life insurance policies and collect the proceeds. The decedent may have multiple policies; be sure to locate them all. Look for policy information [more…]
How to Determine All Death Benefits for a Decedent
The executor of an estate should note any death benefits, other than employment and insurance benefits, found in the decedent’s records and contact the appropriate authorities. Ask the Social Security [more…]
How to Distribute a Decedent’s Assets
As the estate’s administrator, you’re responsible for distributing the decedent’s property if he or she bequeaths specific assets to beneficiaries. Before you distribute the assets, you should review the [more…]
How to Distribute a Decedent’s Personal and Household Property
Distributing a decedent’s personal and household property is frequently a challenging part of estate administration. Whether the estate is large or small, heirs are often passionate about the personal [more…]
How to Distribute the Residue of a Decedent’s Estate
As the estate executor, you must distribute the estate’s residue, or the leftover assets, after you have paid all debts, administration expenses, and bequests and devises from the decedent’s estate. [more…]
Who Administers Estates When Someone Dies or Needs Representation?
Estate administration includes several kinds of fiduciaries, people who administer the assets or property of another person. The type of fiduciary often depends upon the deceased's will and heirs. If an [more…]
What's a Probate Estate All About?
A probate estate is all the assets a person owns at his or her death that are subject to probate administration. Probate administration is the process of proving to a probate court that the will is genuine [more…]
