The last two weeks focused on the core estate planning documents and why it’s a good idea to keep your documents in good order. This week, I will define the major players in the documents, hopefully putting some of the legal terms in plain English. Since this article will stand alone on our website, I want to state that I’m not a lawyer, Acropolis isn’t a law firm, this isn’t… Read More
I always enjoy it when readers reply to these emails, and last week was particularly gratifying because several people said something along the lines of, “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, and I’m going to call my lawyer this week and get it updated.” That’s great! I also heard from one of my favorite estate lawyers, Tim Yeaglin, the Co-Chair of Lewis Rice’s Estate Planning and Probate… Read More
When the federal estate tax exemption started climbing rapidly in the 2000s (and even went to zero for one year in 2010), an estate lawyer friend told me he was glad because estate planning shouldn’t be so focused on tax avoidance. “What do you mean?!?” I thought. I had always believed that tax savings were the main point of estate planning. And in 2002, when we launched Acropolis, the tax… Read More
The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, died in August 2018. Five years later, the battle over her estate ended after a two-day lawsuit that should allow her estate to finally settle. At issue was that Franklin left two wills behind, both handwritten (one tucked in a notebook under a couch cushion), and they were contradictory. Initially, her four surviving adult children thought there was no will since they couldn’t find… Read More
