The Hidden Importance of Beneficiary Designations

You may think your estate plan is complete just because you’ve signed a will or trust. Not true! In every single case, if your beneficiary designations are not reviewed when you sign a will or trust, your estate plan likely will not work out as you think. Here’s what I mean: You probably have retirement accounts or life insurance policies Continue Reading →

How to Avoid Sending Your Assets and Loved Ones to the Probate Court

Over the years, we’ve discovered that many people make a BIG mistake, catapulting their assets and loved ones right into the court system. Most of our clients want to avoid probate because it has a reputation for being time consuming, stressful, and public, meaning anyone anywhere can see who got what and how to contact them. Beneficiaries may become victims Continue Reading →

10 Tips for choosing the best guardian

You’re a parent of minor children—do you know what would happen to your children if something happened to you? Maybe one of your siblings would step in or perhaps an aging parent. Maybe you were rushing to get out of town last year and sent a quick email to a friend or family member saying who you’d want as guardian Continue Reading →

Don’t let life insurance proceeds go missing

It’s impossible to know what life has in store—just ask Joan Rivers who went in for a routine surgery recently and suffered cardiac arrest that led to her passing. It’s uncertain when the inevitable will happen but you can at least provide some certainty about the future of your children and loved ones. Life insurance is a must if you’re Continue Reading →

7 Reasons your estate plan may be outdated

Estate planning is not a once-in-a-lifetime check-the-box thing. What is for sure is that your life is going to change and the law is going to change. A variety of things can come up that will make your estate plan outdated, and any time this happens, the best course of action is calling your estate planning attorney to chat about Continue Reading →

7 Must-do’s before your summer vacation

The summer season is here! And that means travel and vacations are high on everyone’s list. One thing that might not make it to a typical traveler’s to-do list is estate planning—but it couldn’t be more important as you prepare to enjoy the sandy beach or Rocky Mountains. Americans spend more time planning their vacation each year than planning their Continue Reading →

Life-Insurance: Do You Know the Value…of YOU?

By Catherine Tidd of the Widdahood How many of you, when it comes to talking about life-insurance with your spouse, have said one of the following statements? It’ll never happen to us.  We’re too young! We take care of ourselves…heck we run every day! We’ll sign up for it later.  There’s no rush. I’m suspecting that it’s a lot.  And Continue Reading →