This discussion comes up a lot in my estate planning – should I name a trust as a beneficiary of an IRA? The answer is almost always no, although the pros and cons need to be weighed on a case by case basis. Typically this question boils down to whether the tax consequences of naming a trust as the beneficiary are outweighed by the original purpose of the trust. To address this question, we first need to think about why the trust was created. It might be a trust designed to protect ...
Do I Really Need A Will?
Following up on my last post, I get a lot of questions about whether people really need wills. The short answer is, of course, it depends! The purpose of a will is simply to announce (in a legally-binding way) your intentions for what should happen to your property and who should care for your minor children after your death. So if you have no kids, no spouse, and no property, then you probably don’t need a will. But once you are married, or have kids, or start to own property (like ...
