You've done your due diligence and drafted your estate planning documents. You should be good to go, right?
Are you making one of these estate planning errors?
You want your loved ones to be secure after you're gone, so you know it's important to have your estate plans in order well before your death. However, even the best laid plans can be disrupted simply because people aren't aware of the mistakes they're making.
Don't forget your loved one's credit reports after their death
If you're the executor of a loved one's estate, one of your responsibilities is to deal with their financial products, including bank accounts, credit cards and loans. You will likely close their accounts, cancel their credit cards and pay off any balances on those cards as well as on their loans and lines of credit.
Is a spendthrift trust the right choice for your heirs?
Good parents realize that loving their children means preventing them from harm. It also means that they may need to step in at times and protect them from their own worst inclinations. Unfortunately, for some parents, the need to do this doesn't stop when their children reach adulthood.
Business owners have an extra reason to plan estates well
It's not easy to discuss what to do with assets and properties upon a family member's death. Discussion of the end of life is always unpleasant, and descendants may have different ideas over what to do with homes and businesses. Owners of farms, people who own family businesses, farms and other major sources of revenue, however, should plan early and regularly discuss the future of their estates.
