A trustee usually has quite a bit of discretion in their management of a trust’s accounts, money, and property (known as assets). At the same time, as a fiduciary, a trustee also owes the trust’s beneficiaries a duty of loyalty, which prohibits the trustee from self-dealing. This blog has touched on a trustee’s fiduciary duty to […]
One thing which will virtually guarantee your estate will go through probate is real property. That’s right, if you own your home in your name individually (meaning you have not created an entity like a trust or LLC, and have not transferred the property’s title to that entity), then your estate will need to go through […]
With couples of similar ages, planning for the future is naturally a joint effort. However, if your marriage has a sizeable age gap, meaning you are married to someone who is significantly older or younger than you, the future can look different and mean different things to each of you. To protect yourself, your spouse, and […]
A popular estate planning tool that has long been used effectively may be facing new challenges under the ever shifting currents of tax law and politics. The family limited partnership (FLP) is an estate planning tool that allows families not only to transfer significant amounts of their wealth to succeeding generations while reducing estate, gift, and […]
Americans have enjoyed historically high estate tax exemption rates for most of the last twenty years. Such high exemption amounts have kept many of them from needing to seek out more advanced estate planning strategies to avoid estate taxes, which have been as high as 60 percent during those same years. However, it is uncertain what […]
Continuing education is a tradition that many families are proud to pass onto each successive generation. For grandparents who want to leave a legacy to their grandchildren, the gift of a 529 college savings plan is an option. A 529 plan account can not only help a grandchild with educational expenses, it can also help grandparents with […]
The reasons you, as a trustmaker (in Texas referred to as a grantor), create a trust are certainly special and important to you, but your intent or purpose for creating a trust can also have significant legal ramifications. For this reason, it is often critical that a grantor express in writing a statement of intent, which […]
A number of married couples think about their accounts and property as “yours, mine, and ours,” especially if either or both spouses have gotten or will be getting remarried, married late in life, or have brought or will be bringing significant amounts of money and property into the marriage. Deciding what should happen to all of […]
