QUOTE Effective long-term care planning can require gifting assets to a spouse or child. In Medicaid cases, assets must be transferred to the community spouse 90 days after approval. But it may be impossible to complete the required transfers if the power of attorney does not include the necessary language. That’s the importance of the gifting power. What is it? … Read More
Watch Your Language: Intestate
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice (“Freewill” by Rush). Estate planning is based on a single choice: will you plan or will you not plan? If you choose to plan, you get to design all the details surrounding management of your property after your death. If you choose not to plan, then you are … Read More
Watch Your Language: Beneficiary
The beneficiary is what it sounds like: the person who receives the benefit from a trust. [Read More]
Watch Your Language: Trustee
A trustee has legal title to assets subject to certain conditions and requirements that are spelled out in the trust document. [Read More]
Watch Your Language: Grantor
The grantor is the person who creates a trust. No matter what type of trust you have, the grantor is always in charge because they set the trust’s terms. [Read More]
High Five: The Zen Guide to Probate
Life is full of transitions, and the end of someone’s life can be the most significant transition of all. Amidst the emotional challenges that come with laying a loved one to rest, it can be intimidating to discover that you’ve been designated as the executor of your loved one’s estate. Then you find out you are a fiduciary and the heavy responsibility that imposes, and suddenly you’re feeling like a fish out of water. [Read More]
Estate Planning and Divorce in Northwest Iowa
A divorce—also called a dissolution of marriage—can take a fairly long time (months or even years) to complete. And when a divorce is imminent, meeting with an estate planning attorney in Northwest Iowa is likely not at the top of anyone’s list of things to do. But, it very well should be. [Read More]
High Five: 5 Tips to Make Your Probate or Trust Administration Go Smoothly
Geckos are amazing and resilient creatures. They can climb up vertical surfaces. Some geckos can fly. If you cut off a gecko’s tail, they’ll grow it back. These five tips for making an estate or trust administration go smoothly create the acronym ‘GECKO’. So, keeping the amazing lizard in mind, read on for some helpful advice on how to ease the process of estate or trust administration. [Read More]
High Five: 5 Factors for Choosing a General Power of Attorney
When you sign a general power of attorney, you authorize someone to manage financial matters on your behalf in the event that you are unable to do so yourself. That’s a lot of responsibility to sign over to someone. You need to pick someone who is trustworthy, someone who will act in your best interests. [Read More]
