To maximize the value of the assets you pass down when the time comes, your estate plan should include tools and strategies that actively protect and grow your assets while you are alive. To do that, you need to recognize potential threats to your assets. Toward that end, the Los Angeles estate planning attorneys at Schomer Estate & Wealth Advisors discuss marriage and divorce and how your estate plan can help protect your assets from both. How Can Divorce Threaten My … [Read more...] about Marriage and Divorce: How Your Estate Plan Can Help Protect Assets
Estate Planning
What Happens When You Don’t Trust Your Trustee – Part II
Trusts have become ubiquitous parts of estate plans. Many Estate Plans use revocable trusts as the foundation for the plan while others include irrevocable trusts. Regardless of the planning reason, every trust needs a trustee. The grantor may name the beneficiary as trustee, or the grantor may name another individual or entity as trustee, creating a natural tension between the beneficiary and trustee. If the tension becomes too great, the beneficiary may seek to have the trustee removed. As … [Read more...] about What Happens When You Don’t Trust Your Trustee – Part II
Show Your Love by Creating an Estate Plan
Instead of thinking about chocolates or flowers this Valentine’s Day, let’s focus on a practical way to demonstrate our love by creating an Estate Plan. If you don’t yet have an estate plan, now’s a great time to make an appointment with an Estate Planning attorney to talk about your particular situation, along with your goals and any long-term concerns that you may have. If you already have an Estate Plan, demonstrate your love by ensuring that the plan accomplishes your objectives. If the plan … [Read more...] about Show Your Love by Creating an Estate Plan
The Lessons from Lisa Marie
Regular readers of this blog often see articles regarding the latest celebrity whose death created a mess because their Estate Plan failed to properly protect the celebrity’s family and loved ones. It seems that an individual with fame and money could easily avoid that result; however, that’s not always the case. The fallout caused by inadequate Estate Plans of celebrities provides great lessons for Estate Planning practitioners and their clients because the drama unfolds on a public stage. … [Read more...] about The Lessons from Lisa Marie
What Happens When Children Disagree on Medical Treatment for a Parent
Decisions relating to an aging parent’s medical care can often spur conflict among siblings. If you and your siblings cannot agree on an overall plan, or even on a specific medical procedure, for a parent it can present a serious problem. Knowing your practical and legal options when a disagreement occurs can help. The Los Angeles estate planning attorneys at Schomer Estate & Wealth Advisors discuss what happens when children disagree on medical treatment for a parent. The Problem When you … [Read more...] about What Happens When Children Disagree on Medical Treatment for a Parent
How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?
Although life insurance plays a significant role in many estate plans, it can be difficult to know how much you need. You may have purchased life insurance when you were younger, and then not revisited the issue for years. At this point, you may need more life insurance or less, depending on how your life has changed in the interim. To point you in the right direction, the Los Angeles estate planning attorneys at Schomer Estate & Wealth Advisors discuss how to decide how much life insurance you … [Read more...] about How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?
What Can I Do to Prevent My Children from Fighting Over My Estate?
For most people, one of the primary reasons to create an estate plan is to ensure that their estate is distributed according to their wishes after they are gone. Another reason is to reduce the likelihood of confusion and conflict after they are gone. If you have adult children, you undoubtedly want to do all you can to prevent disputes between them as well. With that in mind, the Los Angeles estate planning attorneys at Schomer Estate & Wealth Advisors explain what you can do to prevent your … [Read more...] about What Can I Do to Prevent My Children from Fighting Over My Estate?
What You Need to Know About SECURE Act 2.0
IRAs have become ubiquitous components of estate plans. The SECURE Act of 2019 altered the landscape for IRAs significantly. Just when advisors began to get comfortable with the new 10-year rule, the United States Treasury Department promulgated proposed Treasury Regulations early in 2022 adding additional complexity to that rule by requiring annual distributions for a non-EDB of a participant who died after their Required Beginning Date. Once again, the SECURE Act includes additional provisions … [Read more...] about What You Need to Know About SECURE Act 2.0
What Happens When You Don’t Trust Your Trustee – Part I
Trusts have become ubiquitous parts of estate plans. Many Estate Plans use revocable trusts as the foundation for the plan while others include irrevocable trusts. Regardless of the planning reason, every trust needs a trustee. The grantor may name the beneficiary as trustee, or the grantor may name another individual or entity as trustee, creating a natural tension between the beneficiary and trustee. If the tension becomes too great, the beneficiary may seek to have the trustee removed. As … [Read more...] about What Happens When You Don’t Trust Your Trustee – Part I
The View from Heckerling
Each year the University of Miami sponsors the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning. The 57th Institute took place in Orlando, Florida in January 2023. The Institute is widely regarded as the premier estate planning program in the country as thousands of attorneys, trust officers, financial planners, and related parties descend upon the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort and Convention Center for a week-long educational conference. As the Associate Director of Education for the American … [Read more...] about The View from Heckerling
