Whenever there is a financial transaction, the government steps in to impose taxes. Passing your estate on to your heirs is no exception. They can tax that estate at the federal level.That said, there are limits. For instance, in 2020, the bottom threshold for the...
There are a lot of people out there who use someone's death as an opportunity to illegally make money. Often, they do it by lying to and stealing from the deceased's surviving loved ones.These scams are often perpetrated with information the family published in an...
One of the best reasons to do estate planning is just to stave off family disputes before they begin. Without a plan, heirs will often argue over all manner of things.In some cases, they disagree on who should get specific assets. Two children may want the same...
Many Americans feel like their student loan debt is going to follow them to their grave. That's not an unrealistic fear. In 2018, people over 50 owed a cumulative $260 billon-plus in student loan debt. Just 14 years earlier, that figure had been $36 billion.So what...
You have $10,000 in credit card debt. If you pass away, does that debt simply go to your children? Are they obligated to pay?This is an important question to ask when doing your estate planning. The truth is that, in most cases, children do not need to pay for debts...
One reason people sometimes give for not doing their estate planning is that they don't think their estate is complex enough. Maybe they don't have multiple homes or properties. They don't have complex investment portfolios. They don't want to use trusts or give to...
Estate planning does not always have to mean putting money in a trust or writing out your assets in a will to give them away after you die. You may want to gift money to your heirs before you pass away.For one thing, this can help to reduce the tax burden on the...
Estate planning is always wise, and life is unpredictable. About 40,000 people die in car accidents every year, and none of them anticipated that happening at the beginning of the year. The goal of estate planning should always be to get it done in advance so that the...
There are many different types of businesses in the United States, and small businesses -- the most common type -- tend to fall into one of three broad categories. These are owner-dependent, multigenerational or marketable. Let's take a moment to consider the first...
Estate planning is very important, as mistakes can have a negative impact on your family. Unfortunately, people still make some avoidable mistakes, often because they simply don't realize it at the time. To help you avoid this potential pitfall, let's look at one of...