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According to some reports, it is actually not that common for Americans to have a will or an estate plan. These reports claim that roughly two out of every three Americans have not made a plan yet, so only around 33% of Americans have a will on file. This can create...
Many people associate trusts with the wealthy. They assume that people must have enough liquid capital to set aside tens of thousands of dollars or more as trust funding. For those creating a trust for specific purposes, such as special needs trusts for the support of...
Many people believe that creating a trust eliminates the need for a will. While a trust is a powerful estate planning tool, it does not replace every function of a will. If you live in Evansville or Southern Indiana, having both documents can help ensure your estate...
Estate planning often starts with determining how you want your assets to be passed on to the next generation. You can name beneficiaries who are supposed to receive specific assets, put certain assets into trusts, set up donations to charities and much more. But one...
A no-contest clause in a will is designed to discourage beneficiaries from filing a formal challenge to the validity of the document. If a beneficiary contests the will and loses, the clause typically allows the court to disinherit them. A no-contest clause is...
Few situations inspire more shock during probate proceedings than discovering that a will names a child that no one in the deceased’s family knew existed. In Indiana, these situations can quickly lead to emotional conflict, legal disputes and serious questions about...
If you want to make minor amendments to your will, you don’t have to rewrite the whole document or begin from scratch. You can use a codicil to make small updates to your will while keeping the rest intact. You may, for instance, change an executor, add or remove a...
For Indiana families with significant assets, an estate plan is more than a tax strategy. It is a crisis manual. If you have not updated your advance medical directive, you risk handing your most personal healthcare decisions to a public courtroom instead of a trusted...
Many people think that they can forget about their estate plan once they have it made. They don’t realize that they may have to take the time to go over it with their adult children. Conversations about estate plans cover topics like wills, trusts, medical wishes,...
For a will to be valid after a testator dies, it must conform to numerous legal requirements. One of the most critical is that the person who drafted the document was a legal adult testator who was of sound mind. People expecting to inherit from an estate are...