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Who Gets the Life Insurance and How?
Dear Liza: My mother passed away recently and had everything, including her checking, savings, etc., in a living trust. But one of her other insurance policies had my deceased father listed as...
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My Aunt Left Me a House, is Probate Required?
Dear Liza: My relative passed away and I am the only surviving close relative. She left a will that listed me as the beneficiary of her real property. Her only assets were a small house tax value,...
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What Should I Do About Assets Not Held in Trust?
Dear Liza: My husband and I married in our 60’s and managed our affairs as “yours, mine and ours”. He held his assets in accounts named as his trust. All combined assets were joint accounts, joint...
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Will or Trust, Which is Better?
Dear Liza: My husband and I have one adult daughter – 20 years old. We are in our 60’s and want to set up a will or a trust to ensure that 100% of our property and investments goes to our daughter,...
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When does a Will Make Sense?
Dear Liza: A friend of mine is considering a living trust. The only property he has is a coin collection maybe worth around $15,000. He has an adult daughter who he doesn’t communicate with and does...
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Who Inherits When There’s No Beneficiary?
Dear Liza: My dad named his mother as his beneficiary, but she passed away in 2004. My dad died in 2013 but didn’t change his beneficiary. I am my father’s only child and he has no wife, so who gets...
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Can the Executor Give Away Estate Assets?
Dear Liza: My husband is the sole executor (and only child) of his mother’s Will. There are no other beneficiaries listed in her Will. The only asset she had was a home which is valued at about...
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Disinheriting a Child
Dear Liza: My husband and I both have a will that states we are each other’s beneficiaries and executor’s and our son as 100% beneficiary of both of us died,. My husband has a daughter by a previous...
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The Right Plan for Now: Living Trust
Dear Liza, I’m a young professional and would greatly appreciate your feedback on what type of trust, if any, would suit me well given my current financial and life position. I’m single, 29 years old...
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My Aunt Just Died. Can I See the Will?
Dear Liza: My wife’s Aunt just died. We went to the funeral because they had been rather close and she wanted to represent her mother’s side of the family. While attending there was a passing reference...
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Can I See the Will?
Dear Liza: My adult son just passed away. I would like to know whether, when his Will is probated, I will be able to see a copy? My condolences on your loss. Your son’s Will must be filed in the...
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Recovering Stolen Property in Probate
Dear Liza: I have a sister who came into my father’s house after he passed away and took the only valuable item in the house. My grandmother gave it to my father over 30 years ago. It was in the...
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What Do I Put In a Living Trust?
Dear Liza: I am trying to prepare a living trust on behalf of my father. He owns his home and vehicles outright and also has two bank accounts. I am the POD beneficiary of all of his accounts, as...
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Estate v. Trusts, what’s the difference?
Dear Liza: What distinguishes an Estate from a Trust? A person’s estate is all of their property owned at death. If they have a Will, that document states who inherits the estate. If they die without...
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Selecting Professional Executors
Hello Liza, My husband and I need to update our wills, they are terribly out of date. Our dilemma is around the question of who should be Executor/Co-Executor of the estate. Obviously we would be the...
View ArticleTrusts and Pour Over Wills
Dear Liza, My husband and I are having a disagreement about how to set up our living trust. (We are using online trust software.) He says that our will designates how to disperse the trust, after both...
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Small Estates: No Probate Necessary
Dear Liza: If there is no or very little property left under a will (because almost all was left under a revocable trust), and there are no known outstanding debts, is it necessary to file the will...
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Stuff in the House: Tangible Personal Property
Dear Liza: My mother is 79 years old and is on social security. She and her brother own a house together. At this point, I really don’t care if her brother has control of the property. But I do care...
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