Last week’s post discussed the differences between revocable and irrevocable trusts. This week, we turn our attention to types of irrevocable trusts. There are too many to describe here but some of the most popular follow:
The simplest way to explain the difference is that a revocable trust is one you can change and an irrevocable trust is one you can’t change. To be more precise, an irrevocable trust is one you can’t change easily. In states like Kentucky that have adopted the Uniform Trust…Read More
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and lawyers should be paying attention to the need to protect their clients’ data. In fact, the Kentucky Bar Association released Ethics Op. E-446 on July 20, 2018, affirming the lawyer’s ethical duty to do so. This opinion follows American Bar Association Formal…Read More
Clients often ask how frequently they should review their estate planning documents. The answer varies. One should review them after any major events in a family’s life, such as a birth, marriage, change of employment, retirement, divorce, or death.
After the birth of a child, it is very important to nominate…Read More
The preceding two articles talked about getting appointed by the probate court and marshalling the estate assets and paying creditors’ claims. This article will discuss paying taxes, paying the beneficiaries, and closing the estate.
Estates must pay income taxes if they receive $600 of income in a fiscal year….Read More
Last week’s article covered admitting a will to probate and getting appointed by the court. Once the personal representative is appointed, what does he or she do?
The first step is to go online (during the week as the website shuts down for the weekend) and obtain a Taxpayer…Read More
Recent articles have discussed how to use trusts to avoid probate and what happens in Kentucky when you die without a will. It is now time to describe the probate procedure itself. Because probate involves too many steps to cover in one sitting, this article is the first…Read More
We’ve learned that the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin, died without a will. For those of you wondering what that means for her family, the answer to that question depends on where she was a resident when she passed.
This article will answer the question for some hypothetical Kentuckians. The…Read More
Today’s article starts with living wills and health care surrogates. This article thus completes the discussion that began two articles ago of the full set of documents for the estate plan everyone needs: a will, a revocable trust for some, but not all, as explained in Do I Need…Read More
Many clients call and ask if they need a revocable or living trust? Will it avoid probate, which many believe is a universally bad experience? Will it save taxes? Not everyone needs a revocable trust. Who does?
A revocable trust is not a tax-saving device. Because you retain control over it…Read More