Wills and estate plans are the last things anyone wants to think about after a death in the family. Still, when a loved one dies, the process for distributing their belongings becomes an important step towards final closure, both in the personal and legal sense. All states require that a probate court oversees the distribution
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A trust is a legal vehicle for holding assets and property “in trust” for another person. Trusts have three basic elements to them – the trustor, the trustee, and the beneficiary. The trustor is also called the grantor and is the creator of the trust whose assets and property are funded into the trust. Due
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A trust fund is a trust dedicated to providing a wealth source for a beneficiary, usually for some time. Trust funds and trusts are generally interchangeable. The main difference is that a “trust fund” mostly describes an inheritance or estate planning tool meant to provide a source of income to a beneficiary over a period.
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The “5 and 5 power” rule, also known as the “5 by 5 power” or “5 or 5 power” clause, is sometimes instated in trusts to let beneficiaries to a trust withdraw a certain amount of value from the trust every year before it is officially scheduled to distribute itself. To understand why this might
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Trusts exist to hold money and assets in trust for a beneficiary on behalf of a grantor or trustor. These are legal entities defined and limited by a trust document and called into existence to separate the contents of the trust from its original owner for the beneficiary. Trusts exist in many shapes and forms,
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Before you partner with a law firm, here is a list of some need-to-know questions to ask a trust attorney. A firm or attorney specializing in living trusts and estate plans can be a valuable partner nowadays. Surveys show that Americans are investing less and less time into thinking about and preparing for the future,
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Life insurance policies exist to provide an additional financial safety net for our loved ones in the case of an untimely death or serious illness. This is especially true for primary earners or breadwinners, who may be worried about what might happen to their family if they were to disappear. Through a life insurance policy,
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When a person dies, their belongings must pass onto the living. When no other arrangements are made, these belongings are usually distributed and passed among the next of kin according to the intestate laws in the decedent’s home state. This process is supervised by a probate court and can be lengthy, depending on the decedent’s
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A conservator is appointed by a court to care for an adult who is mentally or physically disabled and incapable of caring fully for themselves, or a minor in need of an adult to manage finances and properties under their name. Conservators have a fiduciary duty to their conservatees, and the exact limits of their
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To understand how a trust should be built, you need to first understand what a living trust is, how funding a trust works, and why it’s important. A trust is only worth what you fund it with – so if you decide against funding a trust, it is effectively useless. Learn more about funding
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