The Plain English Attorney Blog
Far too many attorneys overcomplicate things, making topics convoluted and difficult to understand to the average person. This blog is committed to explaining legal planning topics in an easy to understand format, in plain English. Enjoy the blogs, and please let us know if there is a topic you would like covered.
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A few weeks ago, I was at the monthly meeting of the Triangle YP Civitan club, and one of the main topics of discussion was our annual Corn-a-ment fundraiser to benefit Special Olympics NC. The event will be held at Trophy's Maywood Hall and Garden (622 Maywood Ave, Raleigh,...
This is one of those uncommon times I tell my clients it is important to stay updated with the office newsletter because that is where we post information about critical updates in the estate and Medicaid planning world. For this one, it is mainly small business owners under The Corporate...
When my grandfather passed on, I was just a few weeks away from heading out to law school. My grandmother helped raise me after my mother passed on, so when she started calling me in law school with legal questions, I did my best to explain things to her in plain English because whenever she...
This one's going to be in two parts and it's about protecting the kids from a potential divorce disaster. The first part is putting together your own estate plan and what you can do to protect an inheritance that's going down to the kids so that it doesn't end up being claimed in a divorce. And...
Taken From “The Simple Guide to Special Needs Estate Planning”
“No, you can’t,” the woman was loudly saying. “You can’t leave money to an autistic child! Are you crazy?”
I usually enjoy attending conferences and informational fairs, and my office...
The internet can be a tremendous help with research. However, there are a lot of myths, misconceptions, and outright falsehoods out there, especially when it comes to estate planning. We don’t have time to list them all, but here are the top five we have curated to help you get started.
1....
Funding a Revocable Living Trust is critical to ensuring your estate avoids probate. Unfortunately in my line of work, I see too many trusts where nothing, or almost nothing, is actually funded in the trust. That is why I make sure at least every six months or so to post this chapter from my book...
When it comes to estate planning, what you do with your estate is wide open. However, there are only two heavyweights when it comes to how you pass along your estate. You are either using a Last Will and Testament, or a revocable living trust as the base of your plan. But which one is best?...
When it comes to estate planning, there’s always more information coming our way. It’s also not just about tax updates or changes to law, but it can often be just better ways to serve our clients through technological advancements and new platforms. While state bar sponsored...
A testamentary trust is basically language written into a Last Will and Testament that holds and manages estate assets for a beneficiary over a period of time beyond the probate estate being initially settled. Unfortunately, this has a lot of drawbacks depending on state law.
A testamentary trust...
