If you are serving as executor of an estate or trustee of a trust for the first time, you may have a million questions about where to start and how to avoid mistakes. Our site provides an overview of each step in the process of settling an estate, whether the estate is subject to probate or will pass to beneficiaries through a trust or non-probate transfers. To get started, review our:
Executor Checklist Trustee Checklist
You Can Afford an Estate Plan! Maybe you can't afford a lawyer, but you can still access reliable information about making a will, whether you need a living trust, how to avoid a conservatorship, appointing an agent for health care decisions, and leaving money for your dependents. Plan Your Estate, by attorney Denis Clifford, covers the most essential aspects of estate planning. This guide also features sample estate plans for every age.
Estate and trust law changes daily. In addition to changes at the federal level, state laws that affect your property and end of life care are evolving. For interesting commentary and useful links, check out the following:
Estate Planning Blog Trust Law Sources Newsworthy Cases State Laws
During this election year, we will hear much debate about our rights as Americans, our liberty, our freedom, and whether government has infringed these rights, especially regarding taxes. We take many of our rights for granted and they often go unexercised. Some of our most personal rights are those involved in making an estate plan.
As an American, you have the right to decide who gets your property when you die, whether your private life will be exposed to the public process of probate, what happens to your remains, what medical procedures will be performed if you are in a vegetative state, who will control your assets if you are incapacitated, and what happens to your pets when you die.
You also have the ability to influence matters such as who gets guardianship of your minor children, how much of your estate is forfeited to pay estate taxes, and whether Medicaid will take your house and other assets if you move to a nursing home. You can even plan your own funeral.
While we have the right to control and influence these very personal matters, it is a well known fact that a majority of Americans die without a will, much less any other estate planning documents. One of the primary reasons is people think it costs too much money to make an estate plan or it seems too complicated.
Don't let this happen to you! If you have access to a computer and a printer, you can make an estate plan. There are other options as well, such as legal aid and services available through employee benefits. See our estate planning help section. Many important aspects of your estate plan can be completed without an attorney in the privacy of your home. To see how quickly you can put your affairs in order, browse the topics on this page and review our estate planning checklist.
Pennyborn.com is an online reference guide to estates and trusts. We also offer free estate planning forms, as well as reviews of estate planning forms you can buy online, and estate planning forms books.
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