Trusts and Estates

Insurance is vital for your family’s well-being. But sometimes it isn’t, such as when you have enough wealth to no longer need it, or your kids are grown. You should know when you no longer need to shell out for a policy.

You buy life insurance to protect yourself and your family with coverage that you won't outlive. This is one of the common selling points for whole life or universal life, rather than term life insurance.

If you fly high above the earth in a jetliner, you can get a perspective that is at once spiritual and practical. It can inspire you to write an ethical will, a document that sets down what is important to you, far beyond financial matters.

Navigating the various rules that affect your finances is stressful for every couple, but it’s harder when only 12 states recognize your marriage. In the other 38 states, if one of you dies, there are big problems.

Several federal and state laws that are essential to personal finance do not apply to those in same-sex relationships. For same sex couples, solving one’s financial life can be oppressively convoluted. But this additional layer of complexity should not be an excuse to avoid planning for your future.

When one or both parents have children by a prior marriage, estate planning calls for special tools. The situation raises interesting questions about how to divide marital assets when one of the parents dies. The best way to deal with these is through a qualified terminal interest property, or QTIP, trust.

Here’s an example of how a QTIP trust works. Daryl has three children by a prior marriage, as does his wife Toni. Both have considerable assets from before they got married.

Individual retirement accounts and qualified plans like 401(k)s can be wonderful assets to leave to your heirs. But you need to do some extra planning to make sure the money goes to the right family members and minimize their tax bill.

During a traumatic life transition such as divorce or the death of a family member, your ability to make good decisions can short out. But you can prepare for the inevitable catastrophes that hit us all.

You might think you have the beneficiary designation form filled out just the way you want it. Too often, that is not the case. Fix this now, while you are alive.

When it’s too late and you are gone, your heirs discover that the form is outdated and the designation is not what you hoped for.

Estate planning can be complex and confusing, but there are only two main methods for distributing your assets to your heirs. They go by daunting-sounding Latin names: per stirpes and per capita.

Choosing one type over the other could have a significant impact on who eventually receives your estate. So what do these two terms mean?

The spring ritual of high school graduations is here. But graduates and their parents often are poorly prepared to meet the practicalities of the youngsters’ sudden entry into adulthood, from making medical decisions to choosing what to study. How should parents and their offspring get ready for the transition?

Many parents want to give their children assets to call their own, but kids are usually not the most level-headed stewards of wealth. This is why many choose to give their children custodial accounts that give the children ownership, but not total control over the gift.

If you’re scared that your children might blow through their savings, here’s what you need to know about custodial account rules.