Estate Planning

529 plans can be an excellent college savings tool. Investments in your 529 plan can grow tax-free, and withdrawals may also be exempt from federal and state income taxes, provided they are used for qualified education expenses. In addition, 529…

How to Use Life Insurance in Your Estate Plan

Life insurance is often used to provide for loved ones if a primary breadwinner passes away. However, there are also many other benefits of life insurance when it comes to your estate plan. Talk to your estate planning attorney about…

What Are Transfer On Death Accounts?

Transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts are bank or brokerage accounts with a named beneficiary. These may also be referred to as payable-on-death accounts. They can be a simple but important part of your estate plan. How TODs Work If you have a…

What are the Problems with Using Family Care Givers?

Traditional Care Arrangement Care in the home provided by a spouse or a child is the most common form of long term care in this country. About 73% of all long term care is provided in the home environment typically…

Can a Positive Attitude Help You Live Longer?

How Attitude Affects Our Health, Quality of Life and Longevity Empirical evidence seems to substantiate a general observation that individuals who are upbeat and sunny also appear to be healthy and actively engaged in good things. Longitudinal studies – particularly…

Estate Planning After Remarriage

A second or third marriage will require a hard look at your estate plan. You’ll need to look over all of your existing documents—including your will, trusts, and powers of attorney—to see what changes need to be made. Protect Your…

How Can You Get Money Out of Life Insurance Without Dying?

A life settlement, or senior settlement, as they are sometimes called, involves selling an existing life insurance policy to a third party—a person or an entity other than the company that issued the policy—for more than the policy’s cash surrender…

Power of Attorney for a Minor Child

If someone other than a child’s parent needs to make healthcare decisions on their behalf, a power of attorney may be required. This could be useful if your minor child is being cared for by a relative or someone else…

How to Avoid Surprises in Your Estate Plan

One major purpose of estate planning is to avoid surprises and unintended consequences. You want the maximum amount of control over what happens to your assets and your family. However, a failure to take certain precautions can lead to some…

Estate Planning for Digital Assets

As our digital lives continue to expand, digital assets are becoming a bigger component of estate planning. Unfortunately, some people fail to include digital assets in their estate plans, and laws made to apply to real-world assets may not handle…

What Can a Power of Attorney Agent Do?

Power of attorney agents have the power to make important medical or financial decisions on your behalf. You should choose an agent that you know well and trust to handle these responsibilities. Agents don’t have unlimited power. You have the…

Appropriate Documents For End-of-Life Care Decisions

You may think your living will is in order, including instructions regarding resuscitation commonly referred to as a DNR (do not resuscitate). While your wishes in a living will may be appropriately documented, that does not guarantee the instructions will…

What is a HIPAA Authorization Form?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a Federal law designed to protect your privacy when it comes to your healthcare information. Your doctors and healthcare providers cannot discuss or disclose your protected health information with other people…

How to Handle an Unexpected Serious Illness

Serious illnesses can sometimes come without warning. You may feel that you are in perfect health and then receive a diagnosis of a serious or potentially life-threatening condition. Your first priority should be getting medical treatment, but your estate plan…

Power of Attorney Misconceptions

A durable power of attorney is one of the most important estate planning documents you can have. It allows someone who you appoint (your agent) to make decisions on your behalf in the event you become incapacitated. If you have…

Using a Power of Attorney to Protect Your Family

With deportations and immigration-related arrests on the rise, many who find themselves in the United States without status fear for what the future holds. If you find yourself in this position, perhaps one of the most important steps you can…

Limited vs. General Power of Attorney

A general power of attorney gives an agent the power to handle your financial matters in your place. They can mostly do anything you could do, such as selling assets, transferring funds, or making gifts or investments. A limited power…

Power of Attorney for Elderly Parents

A power of attorney can allow you to access your parent’s accounts, pay their bills, and otherwise manage their property. Getting a power of attorney for an elderly parent can be a good idea for several reasons: If they ever…

Partition and Partition by Sale

Partition Proceedings

Oftentimes, when individuals own real property with other individuals, conflicts regarding the property may arise. These conflicts and disagreements may not always be situations that can be resolved between the parties. To provide a remedy for situations in which these…

North Carolina’s Elective Share Law

North Carolina’s elective share is designed to protect surviving spouses from being treated unfairly in their spouse’s will. Elective shares require that a certain percentage of the estate’s assets be left to the surviving spouse, even if the will or…

Probate in North Carolina

If you’ve suffered the loss of a loved one, chances are you’ll experience some form of probate or estate administration. Sometimes this can be a very straightforward process, but at other times it can be rather complex and time-consuming. It…

What Happens to a Deceased Person’s Bank Account?

How a deceased person’s bank account will be treated after they pass will depend on how they owned the account. Several different questions need to be answered in order to determine who gets the bank account funds, including: Was the…

How a vehicle is transferred upon death

When an individual dies, how that person had his or her vehicles titled will affect how difficult it is to transfer title of such vehicles. Below are several ways to title a vehicle and a summary of the steps necessary…

North Carolina’s Anti-Lapse Statute

North Carolina’s anti-lapse statute determines what happens to your property when your intended heir passes away before you do. § 31-42. There are basically three types of situations covered by the anti-lapse statute, depending on who the intended heir was…

South Carolina Will and Trust Disputes

Will/Estate Disputes

Will and trust disputes can happen due to poor drafting, fraud, or many other reasons. If you have a will contest or trust dispute case, you should consult an estate planning attorney for legal assistance. Will Contests Wills can be…

What is a Trust Protector?

A trust protector is a person or entity other than the trustee or trust grantor that has certain powers over a trust. Trust protectors are also referred to as “power holders” under North Carolina law. Trust protectors can provide a…

Irrevocable Living Trust in North Carolina

Irrevocable trusts are just that—you generally cannot change or revoke the trust after you create it. These trusts are therefore much less flexible than revocable living trusts, but they do have some benefits that revocable trusts don’t offer. Proceed carefully…

The Difference Between Trusts and Custodial Accounts

Trusts and custodial accounts are two methods of bequeathing property for the benefits of minors. Individuals under age 18 cannot legally own title to property in North Carolina, so these methods allow for an adult to care for the property…

How to Terminate a Trust

Even irrevocable trusts can be modified or terminated in some situations. Sometimes the trust has served its purpose and no longer has sufficient assets to continue operating. Other times, changed circumstances require the trust to be terminated or converted into…

Living Probate in North Carolina

Living probate is an option available in North Carolina and a handful of other states. It allows the testator to have a court determine the validity of their will during their lifetime, rather than after their death. The benefits of…

Can I Handwrite My Own Homemade Will?

As I speak to various groups and organizations about estate planning, I am periodically asked whether it is “legal” to simply handwrite a will. The short answer to this question is yes, but there are several precautions one should keep…

How to Contest a Will in North Carolina

Potential heirs are sometimes surprised to find that they are not receiving the amount or type of property they anticipated from a deceased relative’s estate. If the decedent lacked testamentary capacity or was improperly influenced to change their will, there…

South Carolina Inheritance Laws

Several different South Carolina inheritance laws could impact your right to receive property or what happens to your property after you pass away. In many cases, you can choose to set up your estate how you wish, but South Carolina…

Key Provisions to Include in Your Will

A will can accomplish many different legal tasks, including designating heirs, naming guardians for minor children, and naming an executor for the estate. However, many people can get by with a simple will that has a few important provisions. The…

What Are Durable and Healthcare Powers of Attorney?

A power of attorney is a legal document that gives someone else the power to make decisions on your behalf. These powers are used to save your family time and money if you ever become incapacitated or mentally incapable of…

What is Medicaid Planning?

Medicaid planning is a part of long-term care planning. Many people over age 65 will need long-term care at some point, and the costs of this type of care are very high. Everyone should include long-term care planning in their…

Partition by Sale vs Partition in Kind

Partition Proceedings

Partitioning is a division in real or personal property between co-owners. This typically occurs when property is inherited or passed down to heirs. There are two types of partitioning: Partition in Kind and Partition by Sale. These are described in…

Provisions to Include in Your Power of Attorney

Powers of attorney are a valuable estate planning tool, but these documents need to be customized to fit your estate planning needs. Do-it-yourself power of attorney forms may include provisions that you don’t want, or they may be missing important…

What is a Gun Trust?

A gun trust can be used to stay in compliance with federal, state, and local laws that apply to certain firearms. These trusts may be called NFA Gun Trusts because they are used for weapons covered by the National Firearms…

Who Can Challenge a Will’s Validity?

Will/Estate Disputes

An interested party can challenge a will’s validity in North Carolina by filing a will caveat. This is a proceeding where the will is contested, and the caveator has the burden of proof to show that the will is not…

North Carolina Intestacy Laws: When a Deceased Person Had No Will

Many people never take the time to create a valid will and pass away without naming their heirs. These individuals are said to have died intestate, meaning that they had no will. In these cases, the North Carolina intestacy laws…

How Living Trusts Are Used to Avoid Probate

Living trusts are a common estate planning tools used to accomplish various objectives. One of the main reasons people used living trusts is to keep certain property out of probate court or avoid the need to go through probate entirely.…

Strategies to Keep Your Assets in Your Family

When you leave assets to your children, you may intend for the property to stay in the family for many generations. However, a number of events that are out of your control could cause the assets to end up in…

What Are Durable and Healthcare Powers of Attorney?

Protecting Assets from Your Heirs Creditors

Imagine the following scenario: you work hard to accumulate wealth during your lifetime and create a comprehensive estate plan to care for your family. But then, after you pass away, the assets you leave to one of your children are…

Can Trust Funds Be Seized by Creditors?