The role of a premarital agreement in estate planning A premarital agreement, also known as a prenuptial agreement or prenup, can play an important role in estate planning. While you may think of a premarital agreement as a contract created in anticipation of divorce, and not much else, it can actually be a valuable estate…
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Safekeeping your estate planning documents I received a call this week from a client who asked for copies of his estate planning documents because his had been destroyed in a fire. That got me thinking about all of the different scenarios that could play out which could result in losing the estate planning documents that…
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Estate Planning – The Best Plan is YOUR Plan Here are some tips on maintaining control while in the process of putting together your estate plan, as set forth in Keith’s book, “Introduction to Estate Planning – How to Protect and Pass on Your Legacy,” Bardolf & Company, 2017. Once your attorney has really listened…
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Estate Planning: Why you should NOT do it yourself Today’s blog is authored by LaTonya Elliott, one of the legal assistants in our office. She is new to Montana and our office, but she knows her stuff!–Jon There are many problems that could potentially arise for a rookie attempting DIY, (do-it-yourself), estate planning. The consequences…
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Use of a personal property memorandum – sometimes you need to sweat the small stuff An elderly woman has an estate worth $450,000, all in a brokerage account. She has four children and a last will and testament stating that she wants each child to receive 25% of her assets after she dies. The situation…
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Does equal mean fair in estate planning? Our clients, as parents, want to treat their children fairly and equally. Splitting assets equally among children may be easy, but is it fair or equitable? Equal and fair can be vastly different depending on the estate plan and this is where it can become difficult because in…
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Use of incentive trusts in estate planning Many clients today are concerned about not only transferring their estates upon death in a tax-efficient manner, but also a structuring their estate plans so that the lives of their children, and perhaps grandchildren and other descendants, are enhanced. Clients often express a concern that if their children…
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Choosing Your Estate Planning Team Here are some tips when choosing an estate planning team, as set forth in Keith’s book, “Introduction to Estate Planning – How to Protect and Pass on Your Legacy,” Bardolf & Company, 2017. The Importance of a Team You will do your best planning if you work with a team. You want…
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What is Estate Planning? Here is our definition of estate planning, as set forth in Keith’s book, “Introduction to Estate Planning – How to Protect and Pass on Your Legacy,” Bardolf & Company, 2017. We define estate planning as follows: “I want to control my property while I’m alive and well, take care of myself…
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Understanding IRA Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) The money you contribute to a traditional Individual Retirement Account is not counted as income in the year you contribute it. As a result, the contribution is put into the account without paying any tax. The government allows you to delay paying tax in order to encourage you to…
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