Estate Planning

A typical estate planning scenario. You get together with an estate planning professional. It takes some time, but eventually, you create a sound plan that protects your loved ones and your assets. It sounds like a recipe for estate planning success except for one...

When most people think of estate planning, they think of things like making sure that the intended person gets the house. There’s another aspect to estate planning that you need to think about. You can provide instructions about your medical care and name someone to...

If you’re one of the many people living in the Northern Virginia area whose spouse is not (or at least not yet) a U.S. citizen, you may wonder if their immigration status affects your estate planning. Specifically, does it affect their right to an inheritance?  The...

Making an estate plan is often an involved process. You have to make a list of essentially all of your financial assets and your debts to decide how to structure your legacy. You have to analyze your relationships and consider issues like taxes. All of that careful...

When you die, you want your property to go to certain people in your family. You may want your children to inherit your real estate or your best friend to inherit the car you rebuilt together. Many people working on their estate plans become so focused on distributing...

If you are single and between the ages of 18 and 25, you probably have never given a single thought to writing a will as part of an estate plan. After all, you are in the prime of your life — hale and healthy, and with few things of value. But the reality is that you...

When individuals sit down to engage in estate planning, they often think about leaving money in a bank account behind to their loved ones or maybe some of their home, car, prized collections or family heirlooms. They seldom think about what can't be seen, though. ...

One of the many stages at which individuals often sit down to engage in estate planning is when they get married or have kids. They often do so to ensure that their spouse and/or children will inherit their assets when they die. As you might imagine, divorce is one of...

If you are over the age of 18, it’s time to look into beginning your estate planning process. Your will is an important aspect of your estate plan, and it is one that you should have in place as soon as you are 18. Why do you need a will when you’re only 18? While you...

You can absolutely disinherit your heirs if you would like to do so. Most people don’t expect to be beneficiaries, but your immediate heirs -- i.e., your children -- certainly do. Cutting them out of the will and leaving them nothing, despite this expectation, is...