A will speaks only at death. It offers no help if someone becomes ill or is unable to manage finances. Separate documents, such as a durable power of attorney, must fill that gap. A living trust names ...

Setting up a trust can be an important step in estate planning, helping you manage assets, protect beneficiaries and simplify ...

Transferring property into a trust is an estate planning decision that can affect taxes during your lifetime and beneficiaries later. The tax treatment depends on how the trust is structured and how ...

Dear Liz: I understand what happens with a living trust when both spouses die at once. But what happens when just one dies? Is the trust tossed out, since the surviving spouse is usually the trustee?

I am often asked about the difference between wills and revocable trusts, so I thought it important to explain the purpose of each. Wills and revocable trusts basically do the same thing – each is a ...

Revocable trusts can go by other names like living trusts, inter vivos trusts or even “loving” trusts, but their purpose is the same: to address the problems that traditional last wills and testaments ...

Yes, you can technically sell the property before probate, but not in the way you might think. The individual who owned the property is the only one who could have sold it, but upon their death, the ...

Whether you own a cabin in the woods or a manse at the beach, creating an estate plan will determine the best way to distribute a home to your kids. There are many ways to pass property on to children ...

Many years ago, my wife and I were sitting in the airport waiting to depart on our first kid-free vacation. Suddenly, I was overcome not by excitement or joy, but by dread and regret. I realized that ...

Most Americans know the folly of dying without a will. Under the widely different state formulas devised for such cases, a widow can lose one-half of her husband’s estate to his relatives. Equally ...

Alejandro Hernandez, CEO of ARH Real Estate Group LLC, Expands Los Angeles Probate Real Estate Concierge Program for ...