When creating an educational trust for multiple heirs -- three grandchildren, for instance -- people will sometimes elect to put all the money into the same "pot." They just set up a general fund and all three heirs are allowed to take the money out and use it for college-related expenses.
This can work, and it is one of the simpler ways to craft an educational trust. It saves you from having to set up an individual trust for each person.
For many people, divorce happens slowly, a process that takes time. The relationship slowly erodes until the couple realizes it is just not working anymore.
For others, though, a specific life event derails their marriage and leads to divorce. This may be simply because of the stress that event puts on the marriage. The divorce may not happen immediately, but people can look back and pinpoint the one event that started them down this path.
Estate planning essentially involves determining how to pass your estate on to your children when you die. However, who says you have to wait until then to give them the assets you have set aside for them? Should you consider doing this while you are still alive?
Obviously, this does not work for everything. You probably cannot give loved ones the family home if you're still living in it. Further, your life insurance policy does not pay out to them until you pass away.
If you and your spouse have separated or agreed to a divorce, one of the two of you will have to bite the bullet and file for divorce sooner or later.
Doing so may be no simple task, you’ll need to make some difficult decisions and gather a lot of documentation. Is going through these steps worth the hassle? Are you better off getting your spouse to file or are is there a payoff for initiating a divorce first?
What do Prince, John Denver, Tupac Shakur and Amy Winehouse have in common? They all died without a will. As a recent CNBC article noted, the years have seen many famous musicians with large estates die without a will or similar estate planning device in place. Reports are that Aretha Franklin now also makes this list.
Now, famous musicians are far from the only ones who sometimes neglect to have an estate plan. There are Americans from all different backgrounds and fields who put off forming a will or trust. And a person doesn’t have to be rich for there to be big risks in such delays. Putting off estate planning puts a person in danger of one day adding their name to the list of individuals who have died without a will or trust.
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