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Pros and Cons of Naming Many Residuary Beneficiaries in a Will or Trust
January 15th, 2025
You have meticulously created your estate plan to ensure that it includes and addresses all of your most important assets (accounts and property). You have reviewed your asset list repeatedly, and everything seems to be accounted for. But what if you…
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Wills, Trusts, and Dying Intestate: How They Differ
December 18th, 2024
Most people understand that having an estate plan benefits them and their loved ones. However, many individuals do not initiate the estate planning process because they do not fully understand the nuances of foundational estate planning tools such as…
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Caution: Using a DIY Deed to Create Joint Owners and Avoid Probate Can Lead to Unintended Consequences
December 11th, 2024
One common way to avoid the probate requirement for real estate after the owner dies is to add children or other individuals to the property title as joint owners with rights of survivorship. When joint owners have survivorship rights and one joint o…
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Shannen Doherty Understood That With Divorce, Timing Is Everything in Estate Planning
December 4th, 2024
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey, there were more than 670,000 divorces[1] and more than 2 million marriages in 2022. Divorce is a common life event that many Americans face during their lifetime. But the effect of div…
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What to Do with Grandma’s Ring: Dividing Personal Property in an Estate
November 27th, 2024
If you have a beloved late grandmother, many images and memories may come to mind when you reminisce about her.You might picture her at her home or at the family vacation house during the holidays. Your memory could be a special meal that only she pr…
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Choosing a Fiduciary: How to Pick a Trustee, Executor, and Agent under a Power of Attorney
November 6th, 2024
While the term fiduciary is a legal term with a rich history, it generally means someone who is legally obligated to act in another person’s best interest. Trustees, executors, and agents are examples of fiduciaries. When you are choosing a fiducia…
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Categories: Estate Planning, Health Care Surrogates, Powers of Attorney, Probate, Property, Trusts, Wills
Can Someone Else Pay for My Estate Plan?
October 23rd, 2024
Estate planning is not just for the wealthy. Every adult should have an estate plan, yet surprisingly, most Americans do not. The perceived cost of creating one is among the most cited reasons for a lack of estate planning. The consequences of not ha…
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Won’t My Spouse and Kids Inherit Everything When I Die?
October 9th, 2024
You may think that if you die while you are married, everything you own will automatically go to your spouse and children. But you are actually thinking of state rules that apply if someone dies without leaving a will. In legal jargon, this is referr…
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3 Ways to Manage Your Estate Plan Cost
October 2nd, 2024
You may think creating a simple estate plan should be easy and something you can do independently. Unfortunately, this is not often the case. Estate planning laws vary greatly from state to state, can sometimes be complicated, and constantly change.…
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Three More Famous Pet Trust Cases and the Lessons We Can Learn from Them
September 25th, 2024
Sometimes, pet owners can get a bit creative when providing for their pets’ future care. The following three famous cases involving a sort of a pet trust offer some important lessons. Although some of the cases shared here involve leaving an inheri…
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Attorney Jana McCreary
Houston Estate Planning Attorney Jana R. McCreary has been an attorney for over twenty years, a career move she made after working for over a decade with adults and children with intellectual disabilities and mental illness. Graduating summa cum laud… Read More