Because many common estate planning issues are best handled using a trust based estate plan whose centerpiece is a revocable living trust, trust planning has become common place. Nevertheless, many people new to estate planning begin with commonly held misconceptions. Chief among those misconceptions are the beliefs that: The decision to use a revocable [...]
Conventional wisdom concerning distributions from trusts involving an income beneficiary whose interests differ from the remainder beneficiaries (“the remaindermen”) begin with a common model that says one beneficiary (usually a spouse from a second marriage) gets the income from the trust during her lifetime (“lifetime beneficiary”)and upon her death, the remaining principal passes to [...]
Family Letters, sometimes called Family Mission Statements, Family Philosophy, or Ethical Wills, emphasize the non-financial values and family culture which clients believe are important enough to mention in a final statement to their descendants and loved ones. The Family Letter can include anecdotes and stories that illustrate values that clients believe form an integral [...]
Many prospects and their heirs have been inundated with so much false and half true information that they believe the creation of a living trust not only avoids a probate proceeding (going to court), but also eliminates the need to visit or pay an attorney to help settle the decedent’s estate. An attorney is [...]
A few weeks ago I was able to check off an item from my Arizona historical tour “bucket list” when Sandy and I spent the night at the La Posada Hotel in Winslow Arizona. A short block from where the hitchhiker in the Eagles’ classic Take It Easy saw the girl slow down in the [...]
Guest post by Jude Tarris, President of Valley of the Sun Homecare. It’s 8pm on a recent Tuesday as I arrive at the airport for my red eye flight. I’m heading to New York for a conference that starts in the morning. As I’m waiting at the gate I can’t help to notice a man [...]
Ah August! Although I was born and raised in the east, where fall was after Labor Day and the beginning of the new school year was signaled by the turning of the leaves; here in Arizona the temperatures are still in triple digits when the school year begins, and the only sign that a new [...]
Sandy and I recently took a rare weekend off and spent a couple of days in Del Mar where we spent some time attending an estate planning conference, but mostly we enjoyed the sunsets and the good food at Jake’s on the beach (probably our favorite place to have good food and people-watch) near downtown [...]