Estate Planning

You know that it can cause a lot of problems for your family if you pass away without a will. Your children are adults themselves, so you don't need to worry about those points of your estate plan, but you know that a will is the easiest way to pass your assets on to...

The problem with many people’s estate plans is that they are out of date. The best way to ensure your estate plan is current is to read through it once a year to check. The more often you review it and update it as needed, the less likely you or your family discover...

If someone you love has passed away and left a will behind that you believe has been tampered with or doesn’t represent your loved one’s wishes, then you may be in a position where you’re considering contesting the will. A will contest is serious, because it asserts...

Creating a trust is an increasingly popular estate planning solution. It gives the testator more long-term control over what happens with their property and reduces the likelihood of a probate court challenge. A trust can also protect your property again creditor...

Let’s get this out of the way: estate planning is not for the rich and famous. In fact, pretty much everyone has some form of an estate. Your estate refers to everything you own: Your home, your car, life’s savings, retirement accounts and personal possessions....

Wills allow people to determine the distribution of their property upon their death. However, some individuals pass away before they have the opportunity to create one. When this happens, the court distributes the deceased’s assets according to the law. Tennessee’s...

Maybe you’ve always been a private person -- maybe not. One thing is for certain, however: All the privacy you have pretty much goes out the window once you pass away, and your will gets filed with the local probate court.  At that point, your will is a matter of...

=When doing your estate planning, you may want to add some of your digital assets. Maybe you have built up collections of movies, video games, music and books. These are all in digital format, but you think of it the same way as hard copies. You paid a lot for all of...

You’ve done the responsible thing and drawn up an estate plan -- but now you aren’t sure what to do with the documents. You have a few options. It’s always good to store a digital copy online and have a paper copy where it can easily be found. If you put it somewhere...

There are a lot of compelling reasons to try to avoid probate -- not the least of which is tax abatement. Nobody wants to think that a chunk of their hard-earned assets will end up in the government’s coffers. Well, there’s some good news in that regard if you happen...