A trust is an arrangement for holding property. When you own an asset outright, that is, in your own name, you have ownership of the property in every sense.  But assets can be held in trust, which means dividing the legal ownership and the beneficial ownership of the property. Legal ownership means that the asset is titled in your name…

Despite its clunky name, an Advance Directive for Health Care has a simple purpose: to appoint someone to act for you with respect to your medical care.  In some states this document is called a “Living Will.”  It is a crucial document to have. If you are incapacitated, for example, you are in a coma, and cannot express your own…

  Thinking about your estate plan can be a daunting task. Luckily, for most people, a complete estate plan involves only a few documents: Last Will and Testament: Your Will is responsible for transferring your probate assets at your death. Probate assets are most assets that you own in your own name.  For many people their homes will be their…

Powers of attorney are a frequently misunderstood and underappreciated piece of an estate plan.  The term “power of attorney” simply refers to any document that you can use to appoint an agent to do something on your behalf.  A power of attorney for property is a document that allows an agent to handle your financial affairs on your behalf.  If…

What is an estate plan? At its most basic, an estate plan is a written direction regarding how your property passes at your death.  Because it is in society’s best interest for this transfer to happen in an orderly fashion, every American has a default estate plan. This default estate plan is provided courtesy of the legislature in each state,…