Inherited IRAs Require Careful Handling
One wrong decision can lead to expensive consequences, and good luck trying to persuade the IRS to give you a do-over.
Can You Increase Your Social Security Benefits?
All you have to do is type ‘maximize Social Security’ into Google or any other search engine and you will get hundreds, if not thousands, of hits.
Do We Need Estate Planning?
Everyone, regardless of financial status or age, can benefit from having an estate plan—assuming you have assets to leave and people to leave them to.
Wealthy Women Face Challenges in Estate and Tax Planning
Given the expectation the Biden administration will roll back some of Trump’s favorable policies of the past four years, tax consultants and accountants are already hard at work. But for HNW women, dealing with election fallout is minor, compared to the bigger fish they have been frying in the tax pan for decades.
Should a Husband and Wife have Separate Trusts?
In situations where both spouses want the surviving spouse to inherit all the assets, which is often the case, a joint trust can be far less complicated to set up and maintain than separate trusts, with less headaches for the surviving spouse.
How Do Joint Accounts and Beneficiary Designations Work in Estate Planning?
Remember that a will goes through probate, so a husband and wife typically try to avoid it by using joint ownership or beneficiary designations. However, they’re often mistaken by believing the will still controls their estate.
What Needs to Happen after a Spouse Dies?
The list of things you need to do after someone dies can seem endless, especially during a time when you are also grieving.
What Happens to Debt when You Die?
Creditors typically try to collect on unpaid debt, by going after the decedent’s estate during a process called probate.
Your Spouse Just Died … is Probate Needed?
In many relationships, it’s common for one spouse to play money manager and the other to take a more passive role. This, however, can lead to major complications, when the financially dominant partner dies first.
Beneficiary Designations and Your IRAs
If you have an individual retirement account, do you recall filling out a beneficiary designation form? That’s the document that allows you to direct the IRA custodian to transfer your IRA to the people you name in the form.