Estate Planner's Arsenal: The Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust
03/16/2013 - The "Estate Planner's Arsenal" series highlights specific estate planning tools and their uses. An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust ("ILIT") is a relatively straightforward estate planning tool that is used primarily for reducing or avoiding estate taxes, as well as maintaining more control ...
Estate Planning for Pets
03/14/2013 - Pets are quite often seen as part of the family and much like their own children, pet owners worry about their pet's care after the owner's death. Under Minnesota law, pets are considered property. They cannot directly inherit property, own property, or be the beneficiaries of a trust. So,...
Do You Know How Your House is Titled? Are You Sure?
03/13/2013 - A common estate planning mistake is not knowing how your house or other real estate is titled, or incorrectly assuming that your house is titled a certain way. When multiple people (most often a married couple) purchase a home, they are given the option to take title as joint tenants or as ten...
Importance of Estate Planning for Unmarried, Cohabitating Couples
01/08/2013 - Many people in long-term relationships live with their significant other, but for any number of reasons choose not to get married. Estate planning is especially important for people in this situation if they expect their significant other to inherit property from them upon their death. A pers...
Getting Married? Consider a Prenuptial Agreement
12/04/2012 - Once stigmatized (perhaps unfairly) as a bad omen to a marriage, prenuptial agreements (ante-nuptial or premarital agreement) are increasingly popular methods of family and estate planning. They are a useful tool that can serve several important purposes. Minnesota law provides for certain r...