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Posts Tagged ‘financial planner’
Make Estate Planning Your First Step after Divorce
Monday, July 6th, 2009
The last thing that people want to do after a divorce is to consult another attorney. But regardless of your age and whether you have kids or not, it’s important to consult legal and financial experts to ensure that your financial plans and estate are updated in terms of reflecting your new circumstances.
So if you’re not working with an estate planning attorney or financial consultant during your divorce, it’s time for you to do it now. A financial planner will look at your finances. Your expenses as a new single individual can grow unexpectedly; a financial planning professional helps you compare strategies and review your new savings and spending needs.
Also, talk with an attorney that has numerous experiences in real estate. If you plan to remarry one day and you have kids, make sure that your specific assets will go to them (guaranteed) when you die. This is because some cases happen when the ex-spouse may automatically gain full control of assets earmarked for your kids. Of course you don’t want this to happen - that’s why you must plan for it legally.
If your children are still minors, it would also be wise to plan the guardianship for them. Especially when there are wealth issues that’ll only become effective when they reach adulthood, it’s critical to establish a solid and efficient legal structure to distribute those assets.
Tags: attorney, Divorce, estate, Estate Planning, estate planning attorney, experts, financial, financial planner, legal, minors, plans
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Make Sure You Have the Right Estate Plan
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
There was once a lady who recently lost her husband. She is in the midst of settling his affairs but the problem is that she’s having trouble cashing a check from the insurance company because it’s payable to a trust. However, she claims that they don’t have a trust in place.
After reviewing the check and a pile of papers, the Indiana Bar member, senior trust officer and vice president of First National Bank, Christopher W. Yugo, indeed found a joint trust amendment which changed the trustees. The amendment was signed by the lady and her husband but she swore that she never met an attorney.
As Yugo probed deeper, he realized that the couple sought the assistance of a financial planner for their estate plan. Then, the planner took the information to one attorney who prepared the necessary documents. In the end, the documents were returned to the planner who probably did his best to execute the plan while ignoring the implications of unauthorized law practice.
You can learn two things from this story. First, be careful who you approach for estate planning advice. It’s always critical for you to meet with an attorney before executing an estate plan. Second, it’s important to have a basic knowledge of estate planning. Furthermore, don’t hesitate to ask a lot of questions to your attorney so that you’ll understand every detail of your estate plan.
Tags: attorney, Christopher W. Yugo, estate plan, Estate Planning, financial planner, trust, trust amendment, trustees
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