The estate planning attorneys at Frank & Kraft are excited and proud to announce that our firm has reached a major milestone: we've now published 1,000 blog posts on our website. We're excited that we've hit this milestone for lots of reasons: we've had a great time publishing this blog to educate readers and we hope that we've made a difference in people's lives by making the concepts of estate planning easy. Estate planning can be a difficult subject for people because no one likes to … [Read more...]
How to Keep Your Estate Affairs Private
Estate planning attorneys help you to implement plans that allow you to accomplish your goals for your legacy. This means identifying what you hope to achieve through the creation of an estate plan and then making effective use of legal tools so those goals are realized. There are many different reasons for creating an estate plan and many different goals most people have when they begin the process. Protecting wealth and providing for loved ones are typically the goals at the top of the … [Read more...]
How Your Heirs Could Put Your Assets at Risk
Asset protection lawyers help you to take concrete steps to ensure that your assets are protected from the biggest risk factors that you face. When you work hard to acquire wealth, you deserve to be able to use that wealth to achieve financial security for yourself and for the people you love. Unfortunately, there are many different risks to the money and property you have worked for. You need to identify those risks and find ways to mitigate them using the most effective legal tools. Frank … [Read more...]
What to Do After Getting an Inheritance
Carmel estate planning lawyers provide help with the creation of a plan that allows you to structure an inheritance for heirs or beneficiaries in an appropriate manner. The people in your family who you wish to leave your assets to may have unique needs that necessitate you use special estate planning tools. For example, if you have a disabled relative who you hope to provide for, you may need to use a special needs trust in order to provide access to means-tested benefits and to make sure that … [Read more...]
When is Leaving an Equal Inheritance Inequitable?
Carmel estate planning attorneys can provide you with assistance creating a personalized estate plan that allows you to best provide for your family members. There are a lot of different issues that you may wish to address when you make an estate plan. An experienced attorney can help you to determine the key factors that you need to take into account when you make plans to provide for heirs or beneficiaries and can provide assistance using the right legal tools to provide the type of … [Read more...]
Considerations When Choosing the Executor of an Estate
Estate planning attorneys assist you with preparing your estate planning documents, including the creation of a last will and testament. While there are many different legal tools used to transfer your assets after your death, a last will and testament remains a popular option because it is a simple and comprehensive way to determine who will inherit. When you make a last will and testament, you will not only need to specify who will inherit your assets, but you will also need to select an … [Read more...]
Law in the U.S. can be Participatory
Blog Author: Stephen C. Hartnett, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), Director of Education,American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.In some countries, like a dictatorship or a true monarchy (not a constitutional monarchy such as the United Kingdom), people do not really participate in making the law. The law is handed down by fiat. In the United States, our laws are enacted by our elected representatives. Sometimes, those laws may be viewed as violating the fundamental rights guaranteed to all … [Read more...]
Basics of Estate Planning: Getting the Most out of Charitable Gifts
Blog Author: Stephen C. Hartnett, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), Director of Education, American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.This is another in a series of blogs on the basics of estate planning.Often, an individual wants to make a gift to charity. They don’t want something complicated, but they want to get the most bang for their buck.Estate planning attorneys and other financial professionals know the client could just contribute cash to the charity. Certainly, that would be … [Read more...]
Basics of Estate Planning: Two Common Mistakes with Trusts
Blog Author: Stephen C. Hartnett, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), Director of Education, American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.This is another in a series of blogs on the basics of estate planning.Trusts are incredibly useful tools. But, like other useful tools, they do not fit every circumstance. They must be used appropriately. For example, a hammer is an exceptional tool to use when looking to drive a nail into a wall. But, if you hit the nail with a glancing blow, the nail will … [Read more...]
How Can You Pass a Business Onto Your Kids?
An estate planning attorney should be consulted if you are a business owner so you can take steps to ensure you have made appropriate plans for the survival of your company after you are gone. You want to ensure that your company is able to survive long beyond your years so you can pass your business down to the next generation. Your company should serve as your legacy, but it is up to you to make certain that you can actually pass your business on. There are different ways to facilitate the … [Read more...]
