For people in Georgia, choosing the right trustee is an important part of making sure that a trust works as it is intended. There are a number of elements to consider, including whether the trustee should be someone who has a personal connection to the family. The...
Traditional families composed of a mother, a father and their children are increasingly in the minority. It is more likely that a Georgia resident who is creating an estate plan is part of a blended family, is one-half of an unmarried couple, is a single parent, or is...
Georgia residents often include irrevocable trusts in their estate plans because they protect assets from creditors and provide a number of tax benefits. Irrevocable trusts reduce estate tax exposure because the assets placed into them are no longer considered part of...
Trusts can be designed to serve some of the same purposes as wills, but some Georgia residents would do well to have both documents in their estate plans. A will on its own can transfer the assets of a person after he or she dies, and it's the basic essential estate...
Many adults fail to make an estate plan, but it can be especially important for single parents in Georgia and around the country to do so. One of the functions of an estate plan for parents is to appoint someone to be guardian for their children. While this could be...
An irrevocable trust is generally thought of as a trust to which changes cannot be made. While this offers greater protection to the assets in the trust, it also means that if circumstances change, a person may be stuck with a trust that is no longer useful. However,...
In 2001, Georgia residents and others could only exempt $675,000 from federal estate taxes. Today, that amount has risen to $11.8 million. However, it doesn't mean that it isn't a good idea to establish a trust as they can provide benefits beyond a lower estate tax...
Recently, we wrote a post on trusts and whether or not they might be the right for you. Now that you might have a better understanding of trusts, you should know about the importance of one specific trust for an important member of your family: your pet. Similar to a...
