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Should you care about the 2011 estate tax changes?
Estate tax changes coming in 2011. Will your family be ready?
Category: Wills and Trusts
Sweaters in the Suitcase – and your living trust document
Drafting thorough living trusts requires planning for contingencies and flexibility.
Long-term Care Essentials Workshop
By Joshua on Jun 28, 2010 in Aging Parents, Disability, Featured, Long Term Care Risks, Nursing Home, Wills and Trusts
Long Term Care Essentials Workshop. Nursing home, asset protection, Medicaid
Contain Yourself: Fool Proof Solution to Getting Organized
By David Edwards on Jun 26, 2010 in Asset Organization, Funding and Asset Titling, Getting the Job Done, What a Will Doesn't, Wills and Trusts
Why is getting organized so much fun? Well, I should rephrase that. Getting organized is a lot of work. But BEING organized is fun. A while back Michelle and I went to the Container Store in St. Louis. Who would think there is a store with nothing but containers for storing things? And it’s fun [...]
Walls coming down at Edwards Group
By David Edwards on Jun 25, 2010 in Dave's personal stuff
What has been going on at Edwards Group LLC? With the addition of Joshua Becker and Laura Peffley, we ran out of space. So what to do? Knock down walls.
After (or I should probably say “during”)
Before
Dave’s office – before and after
Now a glimpse of my new office.
Charitable Giving For Regular People
By David Edwards on May 05, 2010 in Asset Protection, Charitable Giving, Non-Profits, Tax, Wills and Trusts
Do you think of yourself as rich? Hopefully you do, but mostly in ways that don’t show up on a tax return. Are you rich in the things that really matter – loving family, good friends, your faith, serving others? Whether or not you think of yourself as a wealthy person, you can take advantage of [...]
What is probate and why do people want to avoid it?
By David Edwards on Mar 08, 2010 in Cost of Poor Planning, Death of a Loved One, Probate, What a Will Does, Wills and Trusts
You may have heard people discuss probate and how horrible it is. But what in the world is probate? And why do people want to avoid it?
Joint Ownership – Tempting But Risky
By David Edwards on Mar 08, 2010 in Funding and Asset Titling, Risks of joint ownership, Wills and Trusts
Joint ownership with a right of survivorship, or joint tenancy, is a common method of owning assets. Particularly with husbands and wives, it is a very common ownership method. Many people hear about joint tenancy as being a good estate planning tool – a way to transfer their assets to a loved one without court [...]
Living Trusts Typically Do Not Provide Asset Protection
I often am asked whether a living trust will protect assets from nursing home costs, lawsuits, or other risks. The general answer is “no”. A living trust is designed to help you organized your assets and prepare for a time where you may face a disability or when you pass away. A living trust is [...]
Make sure you know What a Will DOESN’T Do
What doesn’t a Will accomplish?
Doesn’t avoid the probate court’s involvement. In fact, it guarantees a probate if you have a certain type or level of assets.
Doesn’t protect your assets from nursing home costs prior to your death.
Doesn’t cover assets that are owned jointly. Instead, they will go automatically to the joint owner.
Doesn’t address any asset [...]
Two Types of Asset Organization Mistakes
There are two types of asset organization mistakes that mess up estate plans.
What do you own?
How long would it take you to make a list of all of your assets, debts, income and the contact information for each of those? Would it take a while? If you passed away suddenly, would it take [...]
Wealth Transfer or Wealth Reception – Part #2 – The College Years
By David Edwards on Jul 05, 2009 in Asset Protection, Asset Protection Trusts, Kids' Inheritance, Parents
I went to U of I in Champaign-Urbana. Both undergrad and law school. A lot has changed since I left law school in 1995. Many new buildings, and tuition has gone way up. Do you know how much it will cost now for 4 years of undergrad, including tuition, books, room and board, etc.? Somewhere [...]
Michael Jackson: King of Pop (and Estate Planning?)
By David Edwards on Jul 03, 2009 in Asset Protection, For Your Kids, Kids' Inheritance, Name Guardians, Parents, What a Will Does, What a Will Doesn't, Why use a Living Trust?, Wills and Trusts
Are you tired yet of hearing about the Michael Jackson saga? One thing for sure, the gossip media should have plenty to talk about for quite a while. It turns out Michael did have a Last Will & Testament after all. (Thanks to those who sent me links to good articles on his estate issues.) [...]
Living Trust: valuable tool for Disability Planning
It’s my job to use whatever tools will best get the job done for the client. What will work best to build the plan the client wants?
Although it’s not the client’s job to understand all the tools that we use in the plan, most clients end up with a basic understanding of how a living [...]
Estate Planning: What’s in your tool box?
By David Edwards on Jun 24, 2009 in Counseling, not Documents, Leave a Legacy, Why use a Living Trust?, Wills and Trusts
What tools do you want to use?
Is this the first question that your contractor asks you when you decide to
hire him to build a house?
Or, if you’re car stops running and you take it to the mechanic
to be fixed, do you quiz him on which tools he plans to use in
repairing it?
When you need surgery [...]