Tag Archives: child

Estate Planning

Why New Parents Need an Estate Plan

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If you are expecting a baby or you have just had a child, you know that your world has totally changed. While all of the decisions you must make can be overwhelming, it is important to create or update your estate plan. Your child is the most important thing in your life, so you should take every step necessary to protect him or her now and in the future.

Below are a few reasons why new parents need to create or update their estate plan:

  • Appoint a guardian for your minor children. Nobody likes to think about not being there for their child, but none of us know the future. Thus, if something should unexpectedly happen to you or your spouse, it is important to choose who will raise your child. You should confer with the person you want to appoint to serve as the guardian of your minor children to verify that he or she is willing to do it. You should also name alternates in case your first choice is unwilling or unable to serve as the guardian when the time comes.
  • Create a trust. A trust can help ensure that your child’s financial future is protected. A trust provides you flexibility in deciding when and under what conditions your child will inherit from you, which may include a provision stating that your child must reach a certain age before distributions from the trust should be made.
  • Select a trustee to manage each child’s inheritance. You will want to consider appointing a trustee who will invest wisely on behalf of your child.
  • Provide for any special needs. If your child has special needs, you must take care in creating your estate plan. You will want to create a special needs trust to ensure that your child’s needs will continue to be provided for without jeopardizing his or her eligibility to receive government assistance.

If you are expecting a child or you are a new parent who would like to learn more about creating an estate plan to protect your child’s best interests, call us today to schedule an initial consultation.

The Astill Law Office has provided high quality legal services for over 30 years. We specialize in wills, trusts, estate planning, and asset protection. If you have any questions about creating a Trust, Will, or estate planning in general, contact The Astill Law Office at 801-438-8698.

 

Estate Planning

Why You shouldn’t Transfer Your House to your Child

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If your home is your primary asset, you may believe you can accomplish your estate planning goals by transferring ownership of your house to your child while you are still alive. Although this can keep your house from going through the probate process, it can also create significant issues such as:

  • Transferring your house while you are alive means that you will lose any property discounts that you are eligible for (many states offer discounts to persons over 65) which will result in an increase in your property taxes. Some states also charge a fee for every transfer. Not understanding this can be very costly to you. Depending on your financial situation, this could get you into tax trouble.
  • If your child has had financial struggles, transferring your house to him or her could put it into jeopardy. Once title to the home is in your child’s name, it becomes vulnerable to your child’s creditors and other legal troubles. What if your child files bankruptcy? Your house is their asset!
  • Although you may have a strong relationship with your child, nobody knows the future. If you were to have a falling out, your child will not be legally obligated to allow you to continue to live in your home without a lawsuit.
  • If you have more than one child, transferring title of your home to only one child can cause sibling rivalry and disputes. However, putting all of your children’s names on the title to your home can also cause fighting if they can’t agree on what to do with it. Having numerous names on the title can also make the home vulnerable to all of their creditors.

The transfer of title to your children is subject to the federal gift tax. While it may be exempt from payment of a tax (depending on the size of your estate), it still requires filing of a gift tax return.

You could lose the step-up in basis under the tax laws which means your children pay income tax on the future sale of your home.

Your creditors can still set aside the transfer to your children. The Fraudulent Conveyance Act protects creditors where you transfer assets without adequate consideration.

It is important to remember that even if you transfer your home out of your name, there are other assets in your estate that may still make a probate action necessary. If you hope to avoid probate, lower tax liability, and save you and your family money, contact us for an appointment. Creating an effective estate plan does not have to be expensive – let us help! To be perfectly honest, we almost never recommend transfer of a house to your children as a strategy to avoid probate or taxes. There are better and more effective tools.

The Astill Law Office has provided high quality legal services for over 30 years. We specialize in wills, trusts, estate planning, and asset protection. If you have any questions about creating a Trust, Will, or estate planning in general, contact The Astill Law Office at 801-438-8698.

Estate Planning

Events that Motivate Us to Create an Estate Plan

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It is common for people to procrastinate in creating their estate plan. Nobody likes to think about dying or how their family will move forward without them. At the same time, most people feel guilty if they don’t have an estate plan in place.

Over our years as estate planning attorneys, we have seen certain events cause our clients to jump-start their estate planning. Below are a few of the events that cause people to stop procrastinating and contact us:

  • A serious accident or troublesome medical diagnosis
  • The death of a close friend or relative
  • The birth of a child or grandchild
  • A vacation, especially one out of the country
  • Marriage or divorce

There are many other life events that can force you to think about your mortality and motivate you to get your affairs in order. Whatever circumstances, you are facing, you should put creating or updating an estate plan at the top of your “to do” list. You don’t want to wait until you are pressured to meet a deadline to make these crucial decisions. However, if you have a life event motivating you to take action, take the first by contacting us to schedule your initial consultation.

If you have procrastinated, and you believe that death is imminent, we can still help! Many lawyers, our firm included, will meet with clients at home or in a hospital, or do what is necessary to help a client who is dying or close to death and give them peace of mind. We think it’s worth it to take that concern off your mind. Let us help!

The Astill Law Office has provided high quality legal services for over 30 years. We specialize in wills, trusts, estate planning, and asset protection. If you have any questions about creating a Trust, Will, or estate planning in general, contact The Astill Law Office at 801-438-8698.

Estate Planning

When Should I Update my Estate Plan?

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If you have created an estate plan, you have taken a very important step in protecting your family. However, it is important to understand that you cannot simply file your estate plan away and forget it. This can result in unintended and costly consequences. Not only does your life change, but so do the tax laws. You put a lot of time and effort into creating your estate plan, so it is essential to review it regularly and ensure that it still reflects your wishes and that you will obtain the maximum benefit from it.

25765577_sWhen your estate plan was drafted, your attorney considered a variety of factors such as estate tax, gift tax, income tax and other rules governing the distribution of your estate. The tax laws are always changing and your finances have likely changed too. Having your estate plan reviewed can verify that your financial goals are still being accomplished in the most effective way.

So, when should you have your estate plan reviewed? In most situations, having an estate planning attorney look over your estate plan every few years is sufficient. However, if you have experienced a major life event or had a substantial change in your finances, you should update your plan. This includes events such as marriage, divorce, birth of a child, adoption, death of a spouse or other similar events that could impact the distribution of your estate.

Is it expensive to have my estate plan updated? Usually, a simple review of your estate plan is not expensive. However, the longer you wait in between reviews the more updates that are likely to be needed. In order to keep the cost low, many attorneys suggest having your estate plan reviewed each year. In all events you should review it annually to make sure that the guardians, trustees and personal representatives are kept updated.

Whether you need to draft the initial documents to create an estate plan or you have an existing plan that needs to be updated, let us help. The Astill Law Office has provided high quality legal services for over 30 years. We specialize in wills, trusts, estate planning, and asset protection. If you have any questions about creating a Trust, Will, or estate planning in general, contact The Astill Law Office at 801-438-8698.