Estate Planning

When you die, an entire lifetime of assets will pass through probate to the people that you love. Your estate plan probably leaves clear instructions about who should inherit which assets. You likely want to leave meaningful and valuable items to your spouse, your...

Just about everyone passes away with some debt – even if it’s a couple of credit card balances or some medical bills that haven’t been paid yet. However, at the end of 2016, Credit.com reported that Americans had an average of over $61,000 in debt.  That’s a lot of...

Your estate plan is the roadmap that your loved ones will use to pass along your assets after your death. One of the first things that you have to do when you’re creating the plan is to list all your assets so you know that they all have a place.  What some people...

It’s easy enough to think that you do not need an estate plan if you’re in your 20s or 30s. You know that life expectancy means you’ll likely live until nearly 80 years old. This makes you feel as if you still have at least five decades to get that plan in place. ...

Tennessee residents who are thinking about creating a will are on the right track for getting important affairs in order. You and many others may want to take the time to truly mull over what you want to include in your will and how you could use it to the benefit of...

When you create a trust as part of your estate plan, you name a trustee. Their responsibility is to manage the trust and disburse its assets to beneficiaries – typically based on the instructions you’ve left.  Usually, a trustee is a member of the family or perhaps a...

You love your family , and you’ve done everything you can to provide them with the good things in life. Now that your children (or grandchildren) are approaching adulthood, however, you’re worried that maybe they’ve had things a little too easy. Could the wealth that...

When a person dies, they want to know that their wishes will be carried out in the form of the will that they create. Unfortunately, that does not always go according to plan. Some circumstances may warrant challenges to your will. A probate judge may invalidate your...

There are a few different ways that a person can make their wishes known about what happens to their assets when they die. Some choose to establish trusts to hand those assets to the proper people. Others might opt to use the will.  When creating a will, most people...

Estate planning involves a lot of choices. Many people ultimately use "payable on death" (POD) designations for things like their bank accounts, retirement funds, stocks and other investments to make sure that they are directed to the appropriate beneficiary....