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There are many reasons why parents may want to consider protecting their kids’ inheritance for them in an asset protection trust. Some of these include: They are bad with money; they are disabled and depend on government programs; they have creditor issues or face bankruptcy; they have lawsuits against them; or they are in high-risk professions for being sued. As you can see, the reasons can range from negative behaviors, to things beyond their control, to having achieved some level of success.
One of the things that couples should consider when doing their estate planning is: What happens to my assets if my surviving spouse remarries? Many people worry that their assets will eventually go to their surviving spouse’s new partner, rather than the kids, and they are right to worry. That is how things end up most of the time. But there are some ways that you can plan to avoid that happening, if this is a concern that you have.
Welcome to the Roots + Wings Legal Podcast, hosted by Aiston Law LLC and Portland, Oregon Attorney Candice Aiston. In our 5th episode, we talk with Financial Counselor Dawn Torres-Gale. I surveyed the people in my Facebook group, Portland Smart Planning Parents, about the money and legal issues that keep them up at night. The top two answers were: 1) not enough money to cover a life event such as a layoff or illness; 2) not enough money or unsure if enough money in retirement savings. I asked Dawn if she could provide some guidance in these areas, and we recorded this podcast episode.
From time to time, I get a clients who has too tough of a time deciding on who the right guardian for their kids will be. In some scenarios, the best solution for that is a Guardian Panel. A Guardian Panel is a group of people who are named to make a decision together about who the guardian should be and/or where the children should live, at the time that the parents are unable to care for the children any longer. Anyone can use a Guardian Panel in their estate plan, but there are a few specific situations in which it especially makes sense.
There are some major estate planning mistakes that people make with their beneficiary designations on life insurance and retirement accounts. Let’s go through a few of the most common ones that estate planning lawyers see happen every day when we administer estates.
I get this question from time to time: Can I just add my adult kids to my deed so they get my home when I die? And the answer is: It depends. The only way to know if you should do this is to work with a real estate or estate planning lawyer. Not a paralegal. Not an online program. Not your cousin who does criminal law. An actual, real live lawyer who practices in the areas of real estate and/or estate planning, and can advise you on the ramifications of your choices and prepare the deed properly so that you don’t screw everything up.
