Talking about death makes most of us uncomfortable, so we don’t plan for it. That’s a big mistake, because if you don’t have an end-of-life plan, your state’s laws decide who gets everything you own.
Orlando Cepeda wants to know where his money went. He also wants to learn what happened to all of his baseball memorabilia, including his 1967 National League Most Valuable Player Award, and wants to be made whole.
When the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso died of a heart attack on April 8, 1973, he left behind not only a huge artistic oeuvre of 50,000 works, but enough family drama to cover several generations.
Somewhere between a corporation and a partnership lies the limited liability company (LLC). This hybrid legal entity is beneficial not just for small-business owners but is also a powerful tool for estate planning.
You might not be able to spend all the money in your 401(k) plan before you die. If that happens, your retirement savings will pass to the person you name as the beneficiary of the account. The information on your 401(k) beneficiary form typically supersedes what is written in your will. Therefore, it is important to keep this form up to date for all your retirement and investment accounts.
Without an estate plan in place, clients will be reliant on state laws and probate courts to appoint individuals who will be responsible for financial affairs and health-care decisions, in the case of illness and ultimately the transfer of assets upon death.
It can be hard to move through your daily life after someone you love dies. It may be even harder to embark on the complex tasks required to put their financial affairs in order. However, you can’t afford to put that off.
Losing a loved one isn’t just an emotional burden—it also carries an administrative load. There are flower arrangements to pick, eulogies to write and a stream of paperwork to sort through.
Eighty-five million families in the United States own at least one pet. That’s 68% of the population. How many of those owners have a plan for what would happen to their pet, if they themselves met with a crisis, had a lengthy hospitalization, or died?
The most well-known ‘death’ tax is the Federal Estate and Gift Tax. However, the reality is that few people really have to worry about the cost of federal estate taxes.
Copyright © IMS. All rights reserved. You may reproduce materials available at this site for your own personal use and for non-commercial distribution. All copies must include this copyright statement. Some artwork provided under license agreement.
