In the past, grandparents may have hesitated to leave their grandchildren a gift of a 529 college savings plan because it had the potential to reduce student aid eligibility. Good news! Recent changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms mean that distributions from grandparent-owned 529 plans will not count towards a […]
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Your reason or intent for creating a trust can have significant legal ramifications. And like all intents, to maintain clarity, it is best to put it in writing as a statement. This statement helps ensure your trustee understands why you have chosen to establish a Trust and provides guidelines on managing it. The statement of […]
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At some point a trust might terminate . While trusts can stretch across generations and keep money and property within a family, no trust has unlimited funds or will last an unlimited amount of time. A trust might terminate because: The trust has accomplished its intended purposes. It is no longer economically feasible to have […]
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The federal tax code is very specific about how much you are allowed to gift others in any given year or over a lifetime. If you go over that amount, you, the giver, get an unwanted gift from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the form of a gift tax. However, not every gift is […]
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Most people use wills and trusts to pass accounts and property to their loved ones upon their death. These basic legal instruments can be used separately or together. For example, a revocable living trust can be used in place of a will, but the two are not mutually exclusive. A special type of will known […]
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A trustee is a person who is given control over or the power to administer a trust. This person has a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries, which means they must put the interests of the trust beneficiaries ahead of their own. Doing so allows them to keep the beneficiary’s trust and faith in their ability […]
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While it is common for parents to make plans to support their family if a working parent is injured, incapacitated, or dies, it is also important to make plans in case these same circumstances happen to the stay-at-home parent. Stay-at-home parents make valuable non-financial contributions that would be expensive to replace. Do you have plans […]
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Life insurance policies have been a plot point in countless thrillers and true crime shows. We’ve all seen the classic whodunnit with a $1 million life insurance payout as the motive and the beneficiary as the prime suspect. But, real life isn’t a true crime show. Slayer rules, also known as slayer statutes, keep anyone […]
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A QTIP trust (qualified terminable interest property) is an estate planning tool that can help married couples mitigate some of the uncertainty about how they will provide for each other while maximizing certain tax advantages. A QTIP trust is a special trust that can be used to transfer assets in a trust to a spouse […]
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Most people think of estate planning as preparing for the inevitable—when you are no longer around to take care of your loved ones and their financial needs. Having a well-thought-out estate plan is essential, but it should also consider how you will be taken care of if you can no longer manage your own financial […]
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