When creating an estate plan, one of the most basic documents you may wish to include is a will. If you have a more complicated estate, you might also need to have a trust in place. Both a will and a ...

The new system is known both as "representation," and "per capita at each generation," and is taken from the Uniform Probate Code. It has two basic principles, which are illustrated by the examples ...

Ah, those Latin words that lawyers love. Or, at least, used to. These days most lawyers do try to communicate in English, but some Latin terms persist because they are shorthand for well understood in ...

You've kept your will updated regularly to make sure your assets are distributed according to your wishes upon death. Have you done the same thing with your beneficiary designations? If not, your ...

Question: Help! My will divides my estate among my “issue per stirpes,” but what does that mean? Answer: Per stirpes is Latin meaning “by roots” or “by branch.” “Issue” refers to everyone down the ...

Q: In my living trust, I leave everything I have to my daughter and my son in equal shares, per stirpes. My trust dates back to 2013. My son died suddenly last year. When I pass away, what will happen ...

The majority of beneficiary designations are straightforward. Spouses leave retirement accounts primarily to each other and contingently divided among their children. If their children have not yet ...