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One of the most common misconceptions when it comes to inheritance planning is that you need to have a large estate before an estate plan becomes necessary. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Every adult should have at least a basic inheritance plan in place. As your estate, and your family, grow you will definitely want to expand and build on that basic plan; however, there are several reasons why you should have a basic estate plan without regard to the size of your estate. As a Lincolnville inheritance planning attorney explains, keeping the state out of your estate [Read more…]

The process of estate planning frequently requires you to focus on, and contemplate, some scenarios, possibilities, and eventualities that are less than pleasant to consider. Your own immortality, after all, is at the heart of your estate plan. If you are married, you may also have discussed the likelihood that one of you will outlive the other. The thought of your spouse remarrying after your death may be an emotional subject matter; however, it can also have a very significant financial impact as well that you need to be aware of, and plan for, in your estate plan.  Asset protection [Read more…]

Hopefully, you are aware of the importance of having an estate plan in place. Despite that awareness, you may have put off creating your plan. Like many people, the concept of estate planning may be a bit intimidating given the importance of the final product and the fact that you are unfamiliar with many of the concepts and strategies. Because we understand that, the Vernon Hills estate planning lawyers at Hedeker Law Ltd have made estate planning more user-friendly by creating the following 10 steps to creating an estate plan. Define your goals. A comprehensive estate plan should accomplish more [Read more…]

A comprehensive estate plan will typically include a wide variety of estate planning tools and strategies that help achieve the various inter-related estate planning goals and objectives within the plan. One of those tools is a trust. Although once used almost exclusively by wealthy families as a way to pass down the family wealth without paying taxes on the transfer of wealth, trusts are now found in even the most simple of estate plans. If you plan to include a trust in your estate plan, you will need to appoint a Trustee to administer the trust. A common mistake people [Read more…]

The average person spends a lifetime working hard to amass enough assets to live comfortably during retirement and have something left to pass down to children and other loved ones at the end of their life. If this describes you, it is important that you understand the need to protect the assets you have already acquired and will acquire in the future. Although you may be aware of some common threats to your assets, there are likely other threats of which you are unaware. One way you may be able to protect your hard-earned assets is by incorporating Lincolnville asset [Read more…]

If you are new to estate planning, you probably have a number of questions about what should be included in your estate plan and how the process of creating an estate plan is typically handled. Estate planning is a highly individualized process because of the personal, even sensitive, nature of the issues involved in creating an estate plan. When done properly, an estate plan should reflect your unique estate planning goals and objective as well as address any personal concerns or worries you have. There are, however, some goals and objectives that are frequently found in the average estate plan. [Read more…]

Sadly, elder abuse and neglect has become a major problem throughout the United States in recent years. It isn’t a new problem; however, as the number of older Americans grows at an astounding rate, stories of abuse and neglect of the elderly become more common as well. Take, for example, the recent death of a 66-year-old Illinois woman who authorities claim died at the hands of her daughter and son-in-law. Paulette Boyce was found dead in the home she shared with her daughter, son-in-law, and grandsons in December of 2016. Authorities say the woman was found covered in bed sores, [Read more…]

A well designed and thorough estate plan can accomplish a wide range of inter-related estate planning goals and objectives. Of course, to accomplish all of those goals a plan typically must incorporate a number of different estate planning strategies and tools. One of the most common of those tools is a trust. Although trusts have evolved to the point where there is a specialized trust for almost any estate planning objective, all trusts share a few basic elements, including a Trustee. If you recently learned that you were appointed to be the Trustee of a trust, and you have never [Read more…]

There is a very good chance that you will be directly involved with the probate of an estate at some point in your life. Your involvement might be the result of being appointed the Executor of the estate of a recently deceased loved one or because you volunteer to be the Personal Representative of a loved one who recently died intestate, or without a Will. You could also find yourself part of the probate of an estate because you are a beneficiary, heir, or creditor of the estate. If you find yourself involved in the probate of an estate, you [Read more…]

If you have an estate plan in place already, you are ahead of the curve in the United States. Surveys indicate that despite understanding how important estate planning is, over half of all Americans do not have a plan. While you deserve to pat yourself on the back for putting together your initial estate plan, do not make the mistake of thinking that you can forget about the issue of estate planning from here on out. On the contrary, your initial estate plan needs to be reviewed and revised throughout the course of your lifetime to ensure that it remains [Read more…]