Taking the time to think about future medical needs and personal wishes can be a smart move. Whether you currently have an estate plan in place or not, it may be time to think about creating an advance health care directive. Such documents allow Minnesota adults to...
Estate Planning Blog
Should you consider creating a trust?
Once upon a time, trusts were the province of the very wealthy – but trusts have been attracting a lot of attention in recent years from people with even more modest estates. According to CNN, you should at least consider using a trust as part of your estate plans...
3 ways to reduce probate requirements for your estate
For many testators in Minnesota, avoiding probate court is one of their primary planning goals. After all, when estates must pass through probate court, the cost of estate administration increases substantially. Probate proceedings can take months to complete, which...
What can you pay for out of a special needs trust?
If you have a disabled adult child with special needs who is on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid, estate planning can be complicated. You may already know that you can include them in your estate plans and provide for their future – without interfering...
Tips for talking to your adult children about your estate plans
When your children are finally adults and they move out of your family home, you may tell yourself that you no longer have to have difficult parenting discussions with them. Unfortunately, there could still be some difficult parent-child conversations that you will...
3 estate planning tactics for disinheriting someone
There is a popular saying that familiarity breeds contempt, and that is certainly the case for some families. People take their family relationships for granted and even take advantage of one another. Often, family members assume that others will just forgive their...
What are the 3 kinds of probate proceedings in Minnesota?
When someone dies, their estate may need to pass through probate court before their loved ones and other beneficiaries can receive any assets from the estate. Testators in Minnesota create comprehensive estate plans with the specific intention of avoiding probate...
Can you change your will if you have dementia?
There’s nothing like a serious medical diagnosis to make someone reevaluate their wills. In fact, that’s the sort of event that often prompts people to realize that their current estate plans are sadly out of date. But, what if that recent medical diagnosis was some...
Who should be your health care power of attorney?
When setting up a health care power of attorney, you choose an agent. This agent doesn't have to do anything at the time, other than agree to the position. But if you become incapacitated, then they take over making medical decisions on your behalf. You can see why...
Understanding the basics of a trust
As you get older and work on your estate plan, one of the things you may want to set up is a trust. A trust can come in one of many forms, so the exact way it works will depend on the kind you select. Still, there are some things that trusts have in common. To start...