If you are new to the concept of estate planning, it can seem a bit intimidating the first time around given all the various goals and objectives that are frequently rolled into an estate plan. The good news is that working with an experienced estate planning attorney will go a long way toward ensuring that your plan does accomplish all of those goals and objectives. Your estate planning attorney can also help explain the process and make you feel less intimidated. Before you even get to your … [Read more...] about 4 Things to Consider When Creating Your Estate Plan
Estate Planning for Parents of Young Children
The moment you became a parent your priorities undoubtedly changed. Being a parent is both the most rewarding, and most terrifying, role you will probably ever take on. Protecting and providing for your children are your top priorities when it comes to estate planning. To help you achieve those goals, the Grand Forks estate planning attorneys at German Law Group discuss estate planning for parents with young children. Is a Last Will and Testament Enough? Your Last Will and Testament … [Read more...] about Estate Planning for Parents of Young Children
Estate Planning Terms You Need to Know
One of the best ways to protect yourself, your assets, and your loved ones is with a well thought out estate plan. All too often, however, the legal terms and concepts involved in estate planning can be an intimidating bar to completing that plan. To help eliminate that bar, the Grand Forks estate planning attorneys at German Law Group explain common estate planning terms you need to know. Administrator – A person named by the court to represent a probate estate when there is no will or the … [Read more...] about Estate Planning Terms You Need to Know
Steps You Can Take to Decrease the Odds of a Challenge to Your Will
For most people, one of the primary reasons why they execute a Last Will and Testament is to ensure that their estate assets are distributed according to their wishes after they are gone. If that is one of the reasons why you have a Will in place, you certainly don’t want someone to challenge that Will after your death. Although there is no sure fire way to prevent a Will contest, a Grand Forks wills and trusts attorney offers some suggestions that will help decrease the odds of a challenge to … [Read more...] about Steps You Can Take to Decrease the Odds of a Challenge to Your Will
Probate Lawyer Offers Tips for the Executor
If you recently lost a family member or close loved one, you are undoubtedly going through a period of grieving and heightened emotions. If you also learned that you were named as the Executor of the estate, you may feel a tremendous amount of pressure along with confusion if you have never served as an Executor. The best thing you can do for yourself at this point is to consult with an experienced probate lawyer before you do anything else. To help you in your role as Executor, however, a … [Read more...] about Probate Lawyer Offers Tips for the Executor
Did You Know Your Estate Planning Attorney Can Help Protect Fido?
For most people, one of the primary goals of their estate plan is to protect and provide for their loved ones. If that is one of your estate planning goals, ask yourself if you have included all of your loved ones in your plan? Your spouse and your children are undoubtedly part of your plan; however, what about your beloved family pet? If you are one of the millions of Americans who consider a pet to be part of the family, doesn’t it make sense to include your pet in your estate plan? In fact, … [Read more...] about Did You Know Your Estate Planning Attorney Can Help Protect Fido?
The Need for Medicaid Planning
Estate planning should involve more than simply deciding how your estate assets will be distributed upon your death. In fact, a well thought out estate plan should also protect, and help grow, those assets while you are alive and ensure that they are used to provide for your loved ones when you are gone. To do that, your estate plan must consider all of the potential threats to your assets, both now and in the future. Although you may not have yet considered this, the cost of long-term care … [Read more...] about The Need for Medicaid Planning
The Guardianship Process
If you are an adult child, one of the most painful moments in your lifetime will be when you realize your mother or father is no longer able to safely care for himself/herself. Whether the cause is physical injury, Alzheimer’s, or the natural aging process, the result is the same. It may be time to consider guardianship. If you have never been a guardian before, you probably know very little about the guardianship process. Given the highly personal nature of the guardianship process, no two … [Read more...] about The Guardianship Process
Tips for Getting through the Probate Process
The time period following the loss of a loved one is typically an emotional, and often stressful, one. If you also learned that the decedent appointed you as the Executor of his /her estate, the stress level will likely increase for you, particularly if you have never been through the probate process before as the Executor. With that in mind, a Grand Forks probate attorney offers the following tips that may help you navigate the probate process efficiently, and with a minimum amount of … [Read more...] about Tips for Getting through the Probate Process
How to Handle a Spendthrift Beneficiary
For most people, one of the primary objectives in creating an estate plan is to decide how assets are divided up when they are gone. That can be problematic if one of your beneficiaries is a spendthrift – and the reality is that most families have one. That one person who simply doesn’t seem capable of handling money. If you are currently contemplating the terms of your estate plan, and you don’t know how to handle a spendthrift beneficiary, you are not alone. Because every situation is unique, … [Read more...] about How to Handle a Spendthrift Beneficiary
