Estate Planning Resources
Practical guidance on wills, trusts, probate, business succession planning, and protecting the people and businesses you care about most.
Your Life Has Changed. Does Your Estate Plan Still Fit?
Signing your estate plan brings a welcome sense of relief. You have worked through important decisions, chosen people you trust, and taken steps to protect your family. You can put the documents somewhere safe and get back to everyday life. But everyday life has a way of changing. Children [...]
Second Marriage Estate Planning for Your Spouse and Children
Building a life together after a second marriage brings new traditions, more people around the dinner table, and perhaps a few extra birthdays to remember. It can also bring a question that is difficult to put into words: How do I provide for my spouse if I die first [...]
Should Your Spouse or Your Trust Be the Beneficiary of Your Life Insurance?
Life insurance is usually purchased for one simple reason: you want the people you love to be financially okay if something happens to you. But once you have an estate plan—and especially a trust—the beneficiary decision can become a little more complicated. Should your spouse remain the beneficiary of [...]
Your Trust Could Reach the 37% Tax Bracket at Just $16,000
You did the work. You saved for retirement, signed a trust, and named beneficiaries because you wanted the people you love to be protected. That matters. I mean it. Now you're sitting across from me with the plan you created years ago. Your IRA has become one of your [...]
You Made a Will. Here’s What It Can’t Do.
You made a will. Maybe Make-A-Will Month finally pushed it to the top of your list. Maybe it has been sitting on your to-do list for years and you finally decided it was time. Either way, you took an important step toward protecting your family and making your wishes [...]
Friends Don’t Let Friends Go Without an Estate Plan
How to have the estate planning conversation with the people you love without making it weird. There's a phrase most of us remember from decades past: "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." It was simple, direct, and it worked, because it reframed a difficult conversation as an act of [...]
When Your Spouse Won’t Get on Board with Estate Planning: What to Do Next
If you've ever tried to talk to your spouse about estate planning, you know how quickly the conversation can stall. Maybe you brought it up after hearing about a friend whose family spent months in probate. Maybe a health scare, the birth of a child, or starting a business [...]
How the New Tax Law Could Affect Your Family Trust in Utah
Last week, one of my clients forwarded me a CNBC article with a simple question: "Does this affect our trust?" It's a fair question—and one I've been hearing more often from families across Southern Utah. The article discussed a little-known provision tucked inside the recently passed One Big Beautiful [...]
Divorce Doesn’t Update Your Estate Plan. Here’s What Actually Does.
If you're a divorced father, you already understand something many married fathers never have to think about. Being a good dad takes intention. You know which weekends are yours. You know how to make the most of every ballgame, school event, and late-night conversation. You've learned how to stay [...]