Estate Planning Resources
Practical guidance on wills, trusts, probate, business succession planning, and protecting the people and businesses you care about most.
It Sounds Good, But is it Enforceable?
The other day I was helping someone move. We arrived with the moving truck, and met the Landlord at the residence. The Landlord then proceeded to go over the terms of the lease along with the idiosyncrasies of the house. The soon-to-be tenant looked at the 5 page document and [...]
10 Languages of a Contract Part 2 of 2
In the last segment of this series we talked about the following contract languages: Language of Agreement Language of Performance Language of Obligation Language of Discretion Language of Prohibition This segment will cover the remaining languages of: Language of Policy Language of Declaration Language of Belief Language of Intention Language [...]
Don’t Take Estate Planning Advice from Justice Burger
Every now and again I come across surprising and amusing events in estate planning. I felt this one was worthy enough to share. The honored and revered Chief Justice Burger (1907-1995) who drafted and ruled on the famous cases such as Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha (holding that Congress [...]
3 Advantages that Family Businesses Start with over Traditional Businesses
Family businesses can provide many benefits to the family as well as society. Many people preach that mixing family and business is a sure recipe for disaster and estrangement, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are three reasons why creating a family business gives the business a [...]
The 10 Languages of a Contract pt. 1
Ever wonder why contracts are so hard to read through? A careful reader of a contract will note that there are seven different languages used. No, I am not talking about that fancy Latin that attorneys like to through in their explanations, but I am talking about the different types [...]
How to Engage Children in Charitable Giving
The intent of this article is to give the reader some ideas on how to teach generosity, civic engagement, and financial responsibility. Parents often struggle with the paradox of teaching their children to be savvy with their money while at the same time teaching them to be generous. Estate Planning [...]
“Reasonable Efforts”? As Defined by whom?
Parties to a contract will often use the term “Reasonable Efforts” in contracts where the person doesn’t want to take on strict liability for non-performance to make sure something gets done, but has the intention in complying as long as something out of his/her control doesn’t happen. For example in [...]
A Not So Obvious Estate Planning Mistake
You just got done signing estate plan papers with your attorney, and he summarizes everything you have just done, “Today you completed your Estate Plan. You have a pour over will that will act like a big broom and sweep all personal property into your Trust when [...]
What will really happen to my estate if I die without a will or a Trust?
Ok, for all of you out there who do not have an estate plan, I have put together a brief video explaining what will happen to your estate if you die without having first planned by getting a trust or a will. Every state can be different on this, but [...]