Recent Blog Posts
4 Things Health Workers Should Know About Estate Planning
Estate planning is an important part of managing your finances. It allows you to protect your assets, ensure the continuity of your estate, and provide for your heirs after you pass away. Healthcare professionals, in particular, face certain unique challenges that can be addressed through estate planning.
However, estate planning is a complex process that requires a vast knowledge of the law and careful attention to detail. An Illinois estate planning attorney is, therefore, a key resource for healthcare professionals who want to prepare their financial affairs for after their passing.
Here are four things healthcare workers should know about estate planning.
Estate Planning Can Help You Plan for Disability
Perhaps better than anyone, healthcare professionals know how certain disabilities can affect the capacity to make decisions. Comas, cognitive decline, and other conditions can incapacitate a person and interfere with his or her ability to communicate.
How Do Land Trusts Protect First Responders?
First responders regularly face danger. Police officers risk being violently injured, firefighters risk their lives battling flames, and paramedics are often the first on the scene of a terror attack or violent crime. Sometimes, first responders are involved in high-profile incidents that can leave them open to uncomfortable scrutiny or further danger.
One of the legal tools that can offer a degree of protection to first responders is a land trust. This is like other trusts except it is specifically designed for real estate. In this article, we will dive into the specifics of a land trust and how it can help first responders. To learn more or to set up a land trust, consult an experienced Illinois estate planning attorney.
What Is a Land Trust?
A land trust is an estate-planning tool for real estate. You can place land, titles, and mortgages in a land trust, which then assumes ownership of those assets. Because it is a revocable trust, you can continue to access the assets and make changes to the entity.
How Does a Living Trust Help Avoid Estate Disputes?
There are several legal tools available when it comes to planning your estate. Some of these tools have complex and strict requirements that can be frustrating for your heirs after your death. This is especially true if your assets go through probate, an often costly and time-consuming process in which the court oversees the execution of your will. These frustrations sometimes lead to bitter estate disputes among beneficiaries.
One of the most popular and powerful estate planning tools is a living trust, which often avoids such disputes. This article will discuss what a living trust is and how it can prevent such disputes. Consult an Illinois estate planning attorney to find out if a living trust is right for you.
What Is a Living Trust?
A living trust is so-called because it is established during your lifetime and becomes effective once you transfer assets into it. There are two types of living trusts:
What Does "As-Is" Mean in an MBR Real Estate Contract?
Buying real estate, particularly a home for your family, can be exciting and terrifying, all at the same time. When you have looked long and hard and finally found a home that fits the needs of your family as well as your budget, you may skim over the words "as-is." In some cases, that may not be a problem, but in others, you could find yourself on the wrong end of months or years of expensive repairs.
If you are looking to buy an Illinois home, it is a good idea to have an experienced real estate attorney by your side to help ensure no mistakes ruin your pleasure in your new home. A Yorkville attorney with significant knowledge regarding buying real estate will guide you through the process in the best way possible.
What Does "As-Is" Mean in a Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract?
The Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract is the standard contract for buying residential real estate in Illinois. Real estate sales without an as-is clause are governed by Illinois real estate disclosure laws. If your real estate contract has the term "as-is" written in, this means you must be willing to accept the home in its current condition.
Do Teachers Need an Estate Plan?
Like other public servants, teachers work incredibly hard to deliver an essential service to society. Without teachers, none of us would even be able to read this blog. Nevertheless, problems with low teacher salaries and retirement benefits doggedly persist, leaving many educators wondering how they can pass financial stability forward to their families after they pass away.
If you are reading this, perhaps you are a teacher with questions about your own future. Or perhaps you are the son or daughter of a teacher, and you are wondering what you can do to help your parents set up their estate plan. In this blog, we will try to answer some of the most common questions about teachers, pensions, investments, and estate plans. For answers to your specific situation, give our Illinois estate planning attorneys a call.
Should a Teacher Have a Will or a Trust?
Many educators assume that since their pensions or defined contribution funds have death benefits, it does not make sense for them to write a will or set up a trust. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just like everyone else, educators deserve to have their final wishes expressed and protected in estate planning documents.
How a Trust Protects Generational Wealth
If you have family wealth to preserve for future generations, you need a trust. Trusts are far more protective of generational wealth than a will. If you use a will, your only option would be to have each of your children claim their entire inheritance immediately. A trust can preserve the wealth over a long period of time and allow your estate to continue growing in value long after your death. You may want to create multiple types of trusts to serve different purposes. A Yorkville, IL trusts and estates attorney can help you design the right estate plan to preserve your generational wealth for decades to come.
How a Long-Term Trust Preserves Wealth for Future Generations
A few of the ways a trust can protect generational wealth include:
- Building trust principal - Your trust principal can continue growing if you direct your trustee to continue investing the funds contained within your trust. For this to work, you must choose a financially savvy and responsible trustee who is capable of making sound investments. You may want to consider choosing a professional trustee.
How Land Trusts and Series LLCs Work Together
Real estate investors would be wise to take steps to limit their liability and protect each individual investment property. There are real risks associated with real estate investing, no matter how cautiously you plan your projects and how carefully you select the properties you buy. A single high-dollar lawsuit can collapse a budding real estate empire in the absence of proper legal structuring. One way to limit your risk is to create a series LLC in conjunction with a series of land trusts. Structuring these entities properly can be legally complex, so you must work with an experienced Yorkville, IL real estate investments attorney.
Asset Protection Through a Series LLC
A series LLC is a type of limited liability corporation that can hold numerous subsidiary companies under the same corporate umbrella. This structure offers the convenience of managing a single LLC rather than creating numerous corporate entities. Each time you invest in a new real estate project, you would open a new series. Creating a series LLC can allow you to keep different real estate projects separate so that if one becomes financially compromised by a lawsuit or other liabilities, the rest are not affected. So, if Series A is sued, assets contained in Series B and C are safe from liability.
Bond in Lieu of Probate and Real Estate Closings
Probate is best avoided if at all possible. The taxes and court costs that come with putting an estate through probate can significantly diminish the estate’s assets, leaving the beneficiaries with much less than the decedent intended. Even when there is a will controlling who should receive what, there is a substantial risk that probate fees will force beneficiaries to sell property - including real estate - that they should have been able to keep in order to cover estate taxes. One way to keep your real estate properties out of probate is to use a bond in lieu of probate. If you plan to use this legal strategy, it is best to prepare for using a bond in lieu of probate when you close on the property. A Yorkville, IL real estate transactions and estate planning lawyer can help you prepare.
Minimizing Power of Attorney Risks: Adult Children as Trustees
A comprehensive estate plan should involve both a trust and powers of attorney. Powers of attorney and trusts both have a legal impact during your lifetime. When you create a trust and transfer property into the trust, the trust as an entity becomes the owner of all property placed in it. Unless you use an irrevocable trust for asset protection, you can still retain complete control over the property you place in your trust during your lifetime. Your powers of attorney most likely have an effect only if you become incapacitated during your lifetime. Should this occur, your agent can take control of things like your financial affairs and medical decisions.
One way to minimize the risks associated with powers of attorney is to add your adult children as trustees during your lifetime. A Kendall County, IL estate planning lawyer can help you devise an estate plan that protects you and your beneficiaries.
Small Business Estate Planning 101
When you have worked hard to build up a small business, you probably want that business to become a part of your legacy. There are steps you can take during the estate planning process to give your business the best chances of surviving and thriving long after you are gone. Or, if you know that your business is not likely to survive you for any reason, you can plan for the people you care about most to benefit from the company in another way. Small business owners should be represented by a Kendall County, IL estate planning attorney who is experienced in succession planning for small companies.
Tips for Small Business Owners
Some estate planning tips for small business owners include:
- Consider your successor - Is there someone else who can take over running the business? If you have business partners, consider using a buy-sell agreement so that they can buy out your ownership interest from your chosen beneficiary when you are gone. Or, if you have an adult son or daughter who can take over the business, you may be able to leave him or her your ownership interest directly.
Questions?
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