How to Calculate Fair Market Value if the Date of Death Is on a Weekend?
with No Comments

Calculating the fair market value of property varies in difficulty depending on the type of property and the date of death.

Q&A: Can I Leave Money to a 529 in My Estate?
with No Comments

Can I leave money directly to those 529 plans in my estate plan?

How to Set Beneficiaries on Your HSA with HSA Bank
with No Comments

When an HSA is left to a non-spouse, the account stops being an HSA.

Q&A: Should I Be My Brother’s Power of Attorney?
with No Comments

Interestingly, being a fiduciary though is not a job description as much as it is descriptive of the kind of job that you do.

Q&A: Can You Be My Investing Back-up?
with No Comments

An important part of the family’s emergency plan is to make sure you have a plan for when the financial spouse can no longer serve the family in that way, either because they are no longer interested or because of their incapacity.

Q&A: Should I Name My Heirs or My Trust as Contingent Beneficiaries After The SECURE Act?
with No Comments

Depending on your situation, outright beneficiary designations could be a cleaner estate planning solution.

The Most Tax-Efficient Method of Leaving Assets to Charity in Your Estate
with No Comments

If you have a charity among your heirs, there is the possibility for tax savings.

Using Complex Beneficiary Designations to Give Your Heirs Flexibility
with No Comments

Not every custodian is willing to accept the complexity, but I am grateful that Schwab is.

Before the Estate Tax Exclusion Sunsets in 2026
with No Comments

Individuals with more than $5M may be served well from gifting to utilize the higher estate exclusions before they sunset.

How to Change Your IRA Beneficiary Designations After the SECURE Act
with No Comments

Now non-nuclear family or friends who are more than 10 years younger than the decedent and in good health are never eligible for stretch provisions and must distribute the whole balance over 10 years.

How to Designate Your Donor Advised Fund as a Beneficiary of Your IRA
with No Comments

You may or may not want to leave anything to your favorite charity. However, if you do, there are often advantages to using a Donor Advised Fund over designating the charity directly.

Five Beneficiary Ideas Other Than Family
with No Comments

When family inheriting is not an option or you are not all that close with your relatives, sometimes it can be trickier to decide where to leave your estate.

Best Practices for Your Estate Plan’s Tangible Property List
with No Comments

“I may leave a list or other written statement expressing how I wish certain items of my tangible property to be distributed.” But how do I do that?

How to Inherit an IRA When a Trust is the Beneficiary
with No Comments

Oddly enough, how a trust inherits an IRA is as important as what it does with the IRA after receiving it.

Q&A: Moving Across State Lines With a Tenants by the Entirety Account
with No Comments

“I’m moving to a state which does not recognize Tenants by the Entirety. What do I need to do?”

Q&A: Can I Amend My Estate Plan by Hand?
with No Comments

When it comes to legal, if your attorney is allowed to make the edit, you are allowed to make the edit.

Your Estate Plan Might Disadvantage Your Heir’s Cost Basis
with No Comments

Is what I’m accomplishing here worth sacrificing the step up in basis? If it is not, perhaps there is a better way to implement your estate wishes.

Understanding The Estate Exemption
with No Comments

To preserve the portability of a deceased spouse’s exemption, you must file an estate tax return after the death of the first spouse even if you otherwise did not have to do so. The due date of the estate tax return is nine months after the decedent’s date of death.

Estate Settlement: Satisfying the Year of Death RMD
with No Comments

The required IRA distribution in the year the account owner dies is called a Year of Death RMD.

Q&A: What Happens if an Inherited IRA Fails to Get Inherited?
with No Comments

There is a tangled web of rules and options. For any given family situation and set of desires, there is a best answer when it comes to meeting your wishes, minimizing the tax owed, and optimizing your estate plan.

Does Per Capita or Per Stirpes Include Spouses?
with No Comments

People think about marriage differently. These views and more shape the way that people want per stirpes and per capita to work.

Q&A: Do We Need Contingent Beneficiaries If We Have Wills?
with No Comments

The short answer is absolutely yes you do. Here’s why.

Inherited Required Minimum Distributions: Your Custodian May Mislead You
with No Comments

For Inherited IRAs, all the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rules are complicated. There is no easy case.

Can I Update My Beneficiaries Online?
with No Comments

Yes, but if you have complex wishes, you should utilize paperwork.

Q&A: Does a Power of Attorney Agent Have a Fiduciary Duty?
with No Comments

A reader asks, “As her descendant and agent following the rules as written, it is my understanding that I could gift myself $14,000 each year. But can I really?”

Preparing for Death
with No Comments

I recently stumbled upon an interesting website called OK to Die which has resources for preparing for and dealing with either your own death or the death of another.

What You Need to Know to Inherit an Inherited IRA
with No Comments

Although you can have second generation beneficiaries, the first non-spouse designated beneficiary is the last one to receive a new RMD divisor calculation.

Why Trusts Are So Confusing
with No Comments

Trusts are like Calvinball except that the government is trying to play referee. It is quickly confusing.

Q&A: Can You Be My Executor?
with No Comments

Sadly, we have to say no. Even though we won’t be your executor, we are still here to help your executor, trustee, and loved ones through the estate maintenance and settlement process.

Six Ways To Prevent Your Estate Plan From Ruining Your Roth IRA
with No Comments

Many executors, trustees, or even estate plans make careless mistakes which end up in Roth IRAs being distributed too quickly. Here’s a list of ways to prevent your estate plan from ruining your Roth.

How You Take Your Inherited IRA RMD Is the Exception to the Rule
with No Comments

Inherited RMD rules demonstrates the power and importance of beneficiary designations and why it is so important to set them.

Roth IRAs Make Great Estate Planning Tools
with No Comments

Taking the smallest distribution each year will ensure the beneficiary achieves the maximum tax-free growth of tax-free income.

Planning for a Funeral
with No Comments

Funeral expenses are often a familyโ€™s fourth largest expense.

Understanding the Estate Tax Return
with No Comments

The estate tax return is definitely complex, but that’s because it has to account for the multitude of special rules that only apply to a few households.

Testamentary Donor Advised Funds
with No Comments

An easy estate workaround is to set up a Donor Advised Fund as a Testamentary fund, meaning you aren’t funding it yet, but it will be funded upon your death.

Understanding the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax
with No Comments

The fact that we have an 80% “generous grandparent” tax is ridiculous.

Digital Estate Plan: Facebook Legacy Contact
with No Comments

Facebook added the “Legacy Contact” feature that allows you to designate a Facebook Friend of yours who you would like to gain access to your Facebook page after you have passed away.

Free Advanced Medical Directives from the Virginia State Bar
with No Comments

The Virginia State Bar has even made a few variations of a simplified Advanced Directive free to the public on their website.

How Cookie-Cutter Powers of Attorney Fail
with No Comments

This style of Power of Attorney certainly gets the job done, but there are a few ways that the cookie-cutter POA most frequently fails to meet people’s wishes.

Gifts, Taxes, and IRS Form 709
with No Comments

Most people are unaware that giving a gift can be a taxable event because they themselves have not yet experienced the tax.

Radio Interview: Wills, Estates, and Beneficiaries
with No Comments

David and host Rob Schilling discuss what estate planning is, why you want to do it, and explain some of the jargon.

Six Creative Beneficiary Designation Ideas
with No Comments

These are just some examples of the creative beneficiary designations, but the important part is to dream big about what your wishes are.

Trust Protections from Creditors and Spendthrift Beneficiaries
with No Comments

The beauty of trusts is that they are very flexible, and an estate lawyer can help you craft a document that will follow your wishes and give you peace of mind.

Utilizing Uncommon Beneficiary Designations
with No Comments

Will substitutes sacrifice some of the customization of trusts but avoid the accounting complexities.

Can I Write My Own Estate Plan?
with No Comments

The shortest answer is yes, you can. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

How Frequently Should I Redo My Estate Plan?
with No Comments

Here are the most common reasons that your plan might need to be updated or revised and what to do about them.

How to Be a Good Executor
with No Comments

You’ve been named the executor of a relative’s will – now what?

Preparing Your “Digital Estate” โ€“ Hardware and Digital Property
with No Comments

You probably have dozens of online accounts and possibly hundreds of dollars of digital property. What happens to it when you die?

Preparing Your “Digital Estate” – Social Media Edition
with No Comments

What happens to my Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, and other online accounts when I die? Could I decide?

Get Your Estate in Order, Pt. 3: Choose an Executor
with No Comments

Who do I choose to be the executor of my estate? What will their basic duties be?

Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter!