MEREDITH | PC

  Fighting over provisions in your will or trust can derail your final wishes, rapidly deplete your financial legacy, and tear your loved ones apart. However, with proper planning, you can help your family avoid a potentially disastrous fight. If you are concerned about challenges to your estate plan, consider the following:   Do not attempt do-it-yourself solutions. […]

  In many families, everyone gets along, happily gathering for the holidays, sharing laughs, telling stories, and enjoying each other’s company. Then, the matriarch or patriarch dies. Suddenly, years of pent-up resentment and hurt feelings surface, and the once-happy family is now embroiled in litigation over the head of the family’s money and property. Having an Estate Plan […]

Estate planning is an exercise in anticipating potential future events that could affect your plans for what happens if you become incapacitated (unable to manage your own affairs during your lifetime) and how your assets (property and accounts) will be handled after your death. The more you plan for what life might throw at you, the less you […]

Do you ever feel like you never have a moment for yourself?  Or that even if you manage to carve out some personal time, you are not spending it as effectively as you could be? Our always-on culture may counterproductively (and counterintuitively) be holding us back from achievement.  We can work hard and stay busy without making any […]

From laws against selling doughnuts on Sundays to ordinances that prohibit tying a giraffe to a telephone pole, the annals of American jurisprudence are filled with archaic laws that, while still technically on the books, are rarely, if ever, enforced. In Alabama, it is illegal to wear a fake mustache in church if it causes laughter.  Massachusetts forbids […]

  Many estate plans contain revocable living trusts that will become irrevocable (cannot be easily changed or terminated) when the trustmaker dies.  Such trusts may benefit the surviving spouse during their lifetime and may continue for the benefit of several additional generations.  Because these trusts can be designed to span multiple decades, it is crucial to choose the […]

  Estate planning attorneys are often asked where original estate planning documents—wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives—should be stored for safekeeping. While there is no right or wrong answer to this question, consider the following: Should you store your original estate planning documents in your safe deposit box? Some people believe that the best place to […]

  You may be surprised to learn that, not only has asset protection planning been around for a long time, but you likely have already engaged in it at some point. In fact, you probably have one or more types of traditional asset protection planning currently in place. The problem is, in many cases, the type of planning […]

  A common misconception is that only wealthy individuals and people in high-risk professions, such as doctors or lawyers, need an asset protection plan. However, anyone can be sued. A car accident, foreclosure, unpaid medical bills, or an injured tenant can result in a monetary judgment that could crush your finances.   What Is Asset Protection Planning? Asset […]

  Many people believe that once they set up a revocable living trust and change the ownership of their accounts and property from themselves as individuals to their trust, those accounts and property are protected from lawsuits. This is not true.   While trusts commonly protect a beneficiary’s inheritance, few trusts protect assets (accounts and property) previously owned […]