When you don’t make a will or living trust, your estate passes to your intestate heirs upon your death. These are the people, usually close family members, whom the law identifies as entitled to inherit from you. So, do you know who your intestate heirs are? The North Carolina intestacy statutes can actually be quite complicated. If you’re married with no children when you pass away, … read more
Articles & Publications
Who Pays Income Tax on a Revocable Living Trust?
One of the main reasons for establishing a revocable living trust is so that assets can be transferred into the trust and, when you pass away, those assets can be distributed to the trust beneficiaries outside of the probate process. But who pays taxes on income earned by the trust assets? Here’s a general overview of how it works: During Your Lifetime When you establish a … read more
Can You Make a Power of Attorney for a Parent Who Has Dementia?
It’s not unusual for estate planning attorneys to get calls from adult children who are in quite a bind: They have a parent who is incapacitated, often due to Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, and the parent did not put an incapacity plan in place while they were healthy and lucid. The adult child is not authorized to access the parent’s financial accounts, handle the parent’s … read more
Do You Need a Living Trust or a Testamentary Trust?
Establishing an estate plan that works the way you expect it to and accomplishes your goals requires choosing the appropriate estate planning tools. For example, do you know the difference between a testamentary trust and a living trust? These two types of trusts are used for different purposes, and they have different advantages and disadvantages. Testamentary Trust A testamentary … read more
