If you are among the 40% of Americans who believe they don’t have enough assets to have an estate plan, here’s a simple estate planning checklist for you to take to see if you’re right. ✅ If you check YES to only one item on the list below, then you’re right! ✅✅If you check YES…
Clients are often unpleasantly surprised to learn that having a Last Will and Testament does not negate the need for probate. And they are sometimes annoyed when they learn that even though they are named as the Executor in a Will, that alone does not give them authority to access the decedent’s assets. Yet both of these statements are true.
Many families mistakenly believe that receiving an inherited property is as simple as listening to a reading of the Will and then that property magically belongs to you and you can do whatever you want with it. Sorry to burst that bubble, but a reading of the will is not a real thing – that’s…
The federal government has expanded access to protections for the non-borrowing spouse of a reverse mortgage holder who is not named in the loan document, allowing more such spouses the ability to stay in their home if the borrowing spouse dies or moves to a care facility. Reverse Mortgage Protection Prior To 2014 A reverse…
Have you heard of the “READING OF THE WILL”? Of course, you have! because it has been a scene in many TV shows and movies. After someone dies, the lawyer hosts a meeting in his (usually “his” because, well, you know, but that’s a topic for another time…) office. Everyone who had a relationship with…
Will You Owe Taxes On Your Spouse’s Estate? Currently, the estate tax exemption in Connecticut is $12.92 million per person. So although an Estate Tax Return must be filed for every decedent, tax is due from very few estates. And even if the decedent’s assets exceeded $12,920,000, there is an unlimited marital deduction, so if…
