Recent Blog Posts
Estate Planning: Gun Trusts
Kendall County Gun Trust Lawyers: Serving Plainfield, Yorkville, Oswego, Plano and Surrounding Areas
What is a Gun Trust?
A gun trust (also called an NFA trust) is a type of trust designed to take title of your firearms and certain firearm accessories. As creator of the trust, you will name a person as trustee that will manage the firearms in the trust. If you name yourself as trustee, you will also name a successor trustee that will manage the firearms should you become incapacitated or at your death. Gun trusts can be revocable or amended by you, the creator, which is specified in the terms of the trust.
Firearms that are covered under the National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act of 1968 qualify for this type of trust. Types of firearms covered include fully automatic firearms, short-barrel shotguns, short-barrel rifles, and any other weapon or device that a person can hide on their body that discharged an explosive. Along with those firearms, the qualifying firearm accessories include sound suppressors and destructive devices (for example, grenades or bombs). A gun trust provides a number of benefits for gun owners interested in protecting not only their firearms, but also those who they wish to inherit their firearms after their death.
Estate Planning: Naming Guardians for Your Children & Children’s Trusts
Naming Guardians for Your Children in Your Last Will and Testament
Any experienced estate planning attorney will emphasize the importance of naming guardians for any current or future minor children when drafting your will. It is important to make sure the person (or people) you want to take care of your children in the event that you pass while they are still minors (under the age of 18) so that your wishes are followed. If no legal guardian is specified in your will, this huge decision is left up to strangers (the court).
It is custom that if one parent passes and there is a surviving parent, the surviving parent has the legal right to custody of the children. If possible, it is ideal that both parents are in agreeance of custody of the children should one or both pass while the children our minors. However, it is sometimes the case that both parents cannot agree. In any event, your wishes should be clearly stated in your will, so the court is clear on your wishes.
What is a Limited Liability Company (LLC)?
You may be wondering what an LLC is. Well, an LLC is short for Limited Liability Company.
LLC is the common business structure for private companies in the US that protects its’ owners from personal responsibilities from debts or liabilities.
Typically, any budding company, small business, or even a tech startup can emerge as an LLC. Microsoft, Nike, Adidas, Berkshire Hathaway, and AOL are all LLCs.
In this post, you will get to fully understand what an LLC is, its advantages and limitations, and how you can set up a limited liability company. Read on.
What is the Purpose of Estate Planning and a Living Trust?
Oswego and Yorkville Living Trust Lawyers
There are many different goals possible to be accomplished with an estate plan, depending on your situation. A good estate plan will ensure that your loved ones are in the best position possible from both a financial and personal perspective if you pass away or become mentally incompetent. When you start to plan your estate, you need to consider your assets, beneficiaries and goals. You should then consult an estate planning attorney who can advise you on ways to save money and taxes and ensure that your will or trust legally provides for your beneficiaries in the manner you direct.
Call Peace of Mind Asset Protection, LLC at 630-780-1034, we are here to serve you and listen to your needs. If you have recently had an important life event—marriage, birth of a child or grandchild, divorce, death of a beneficiary, an inheritance, and/or purchase of a new asset—you will want to update your estate plan accordingly.
Executor Responsibilities during a Probate Proceeding
Kendall County Probate Lawyers
A person appointed to the role of Executor during a probate proceeding has the responsibility of dividing and distributing a person’s assets when that person passes away. There is a lot of legal jargon involved and it may be an intimidating task. It is important to understand what goes into the role of Executor and what the process looks like. This makes the process much easier and smoother for the Executor.
Cost
The Executor does not pay for the cost of the probate process. It is paid by the assets of the estate. Costs typically come in the form of attorney fees, court filing fees, and any appraisal needed.
Kendall County and Oswego Probate Procedures
What is Included in the Probate Process?
The first thing to understand is what a probate is and how the process works. Probate is the term used for the legal process in which a deceased person’s Will or Estate (without a Will) is administered. The process looks different depending on whether the person who is deceased had a Will made while they were alive or if they did not. In the event the deceased person did not have a Will made, a person is selected to be an administrator of the Estate. The Executor, among other things, has the task of compiling a list or inventory of the assets of the Estate. The Executor also must make sure any claims that are made against the Estate are paid, and finally, the Executor must distribute whatever is left of the Estate to the appropriate heirs of the deceased.
Only Two of You? Estate Planning Tips For Childless Couples.
What if you don't have children yet, is estate planning still necessary for you and your spouse? Frankly, death or a terminal sickness can come knocking anytime even before you both decide to have children. So, you ask yourself, "is estate planning ideal for childless and infertile couples?" The answer is yes.
Estate planning is not only for couples with children. In fact, many estate planning documents do not contain children as beneficiaries alone. Other like pets, extended family members, and even distant relatives as beneficiaries are also included.
Coordinating Landlord’s Estate Planning With Asset Protection
Owning rental property can be a great benefit to a landlord, as well as a way for an individual to generate additional income. But there are substantial risks that an individual assumes when taking on the role of a landlord. The risk of a lawsuit against a landlord is high, as there can be claims brought based a lease dispute or an injury that occurred on the property. If a tenant brings a claim against a landlord, judgment creditors will be able to access the landlord’s personal assets to pay off the judgment. In order to protect personal assets, it is crucial to include rental property in an estate plan as a way to structure a workable asset protection plan.
The best way for landlords to eliminate the risk of creditors reaching personal assets is to take the rental property out of the landlord’s individual name and place it into an entity. There are two ways that are most effective at doing so, establishing an LLC, or putting the property into a land trust.
Why A Certificate of Trust Is Necessary In Estate Planning
Implementing a Trust into your estate has many advantages. Along with being a less costly alternative than going through Probate and being more time-efficient, A Trust has the added benefit of being private. However, when a Trust has been implemented, you need to provide documentation of the Trust when opening new accounts or purchasing real estate. That is where a Certificate of Trust comes in handy.
Privacy of a Trust
While a Will must go through Probate and will become a public document, a Trust Agreement has the benefit of remaining private, meaning that only those that have seen the Trust know the contents of it. Mainly, the people who are aware of the contents of the Trust are the Trustees and Successor Trustees.
Role of Trustees
The Trustee has the power to manage the Trust. Typically, while the Trustor (the person who created the trust) is alive, they will serve as Trustee. Doing so gives the Trustee full ability to add assets to the trust, make payments on behalf of the trust, and remove items from the trust as necessary to benefit the Trustor during their lifetime.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization: The Case that Overturned Roe v. Wade Could Impact Estate Planning for Same-Sex Couples
What Happened in Dobbs v. Jackson?
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court released its decision in Dobbs. This decision overturned the long-standing precedent set by Roe v. Wade that women have a right to have an abortion under the Constitution. The justification used by the majority of the Justices in the Dobbs ruling could have devastating impacts on other previously held constitutional rights, including the rights of same-sex couples.
Before the Dobbs ruling, the Supreme Court in Roe held that women did have a right to seek an abortion (up to a certain point in the pregnancy) because it was protected by the constitutional right to privacy. This meant that an individual state could not ban women from seeking an abortion nor could a state place any undue obstacles in the way of a woman seeking an abortion. However, by a 5 to 4 vote in Dobbs, the majority held that the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly give women the right to seek an abortion and thus, there is none. Consequently, this decision gave individual states complete power to regulate any aspect of abortion not preempted by federal law. Thus, the Dobbs decision paved a path for the Court to allow states to regulate other constitutional rights that were previously held as constitutional under the right to privacy.
What is the Difference Between a Limited Partnership and LLC?
A Limited Partnership company and LLC have similarities in operation, but they are quite different from each other. They are the two most common business entities in the US.
For example, when it comes to taxation, LPs and LLCs have the freedom to incur pass-through taxation treatment. This means that each member (LLC) or partner (LP) is taxed on the personal profit gained from the company. LPs and LLCs are both exempt from federal income tax.
Also, LPs and LLCs have similarities in defining the rights and roles of partners and members. This is in the aspect of Limited Partnership Agreement for LP and Operating Agreement for LLC. These are two similar internal documents that contain how the company is to operate, internal agreements among members or partners, and firm rules and regulations to be followed by all members or partners.
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