You own a family business. It’s been successful, but you worry that your children simply see it as an easy career. By virtue of the sheer luck of being born into your family, they will always have a job waiting for them. You’re not wrong to be worried. Experts warn that this point of view can be detrimental to children. It does…[...]

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Estate planning after you have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s can be problematic for your family. They may not think that your estate plan is accurate because of your condition. For instance, say you want to leave someone out of your will. You have your own reasons to do it, and you even talked with the person in advance. You don’t…[...]

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Don’t assume that your heirs will get an asset just because you leave it to them in your will. In some cases, other types of paperwork actually take precedence over your will. A good example is a beneficiary designation. You may find yourself using this with life insurance policies, annuities and retirement accounts. The beneficiary designation is something you set up…[...]

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If you have a child with special needs, a big part of your estate planning is likely setting up a special needs trust and other systems to support the child when you can no longer do so. You understand that your role as a parent is different than most, and your child may need life-long care. The trust can help…[...]

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Ever since you started your business, it has been your dream to pass it on to your children. You want them to love it as much as you do. You want them to have a source of income. You know how hard it was for you to find a career path, so you hope to give that to them and…[...]

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Estate planning involves far more than just 10 steps. In fact, one of the reasons that people often put it off is that they feel intimidated by the sheer amount of work that they know it’s going to be. You shouldn’t feel this way. Estate planning is very important and you can accomplish it; it’s probably easier than you think.…[...]

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You have a vision for your family business that goes beyond your immediate interaction with it. You want to leave it to your children. You hope that they can in turn leave it to your grandchildren. You want to create a legacy that spans the generations and provides income and opportunities for decades to come. It may happen, but you…[...]

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Parents know that a big part of their estate planning is simply leaving money to their children. Physical assets do play a role, but many parents simplify their estate by selling assets before they pass away — selling the family home when they go to a nursing home, for instance, and simply leaving the money from the sale to the…[...]

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For some people, the word “trust” conjures up images of spoiled college-age children living off the largesse of their families. However, trusts are not solely the domain of the incredibly wealthy and elite. Instead, trusts are wonderful estate planning tools for Americans of all incomes. The creation of a trust gives you more control over the use of your assets…[...]

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You could argue that one of the most common estate planning myths is that you can do it later, that you’ll always have time to get around to it. People do think this way, but most people technically do know — even if they still haven’t done their estate planning — that they can’t predict when they’ll need it. Life…[...]

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