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3 Simple Ways to Avoid Probate
The probate process is notoriously taxing for any family that must experience it. The goal of probate is to settle the affairs of a deceased individual legally, meaning determining ownership rights over their remaining property as well as responsibility for their remaining debts. Probate occurs when the deceased did not have a formal plan in place for handling their end-of-life affairs. If you are making your plans for the future and want to spare your loved ones the difficulty and stress of the probate process, there are a few steps you can take to reduce uncertainty and ensure your legacy unfolds according to your wishes. An estate planning attorney can help you explore your options for helping your family avoid probate. Create a Revocable Trust A trust is a special legal document that officially transfers ownership rights of the property and assets listed in the trust to a trustee. This [...]
A Simple Guide for Family Business Succession Planning
Running a successful family business can be incredibly rewarding, but it also requires an extraordinary amount of hard work, sacrifice, and careful planning. One of the most difficult decisions any family business owner will eventually need to make is how to handle the business once they’re gone. Family business succession planning is a difficult aspect of running a business because it forces business owners to think objectively about the future but without any real context. The 2016 PWC U.S. Family Business Survey revealed that succession planning is a common pain point for family business owners across the United States. The issues most family business owners have with this concept is lack of planning. While about 70% of all family business owners report that they expect their businesses to pass down to the next generations of their families, only 23% have a detailed and actionable plan for ensuring this succession occurs. [...]
Living Trust vs. Will: Which One Do You Need?
You’ve worked hard for your money and property over your lifetime, and you want to be sure it’s in good hands after your death. To guarantee this, you may want to create a living trust or a will—or both. Learn more about the differences and how to choose below. WHAT IS A LIVING TRUST? In short, a trust is a legal document that lists exactly what you want done with your property when you die or become incapacitated. A living trust is a trust that can be set up at any time, changed at any time, and revoked at any time (which is why it’s also known as a revocable trust). A living trust will include the name of a trustee, who is the person responsible for managing any property in the trust. WHAT IS A WILL? A last will and testament, or a will, is a legal document that lists [...]
Comparing Business Planning and Corporate Planning
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BUSINESS PLANNING AND CORPORATE PLANNINGBoth business planning and corporate planning involve defining goals for your business and creating plans to support those goals. While they may seem similar at first, each one is used for a specific purpose. It can help to think of business planning as the “what” of your business goals, while corporate planning is the “how”. Learn more about the purpose of each one below.Business Planning: The “What”Business planning is the “what” of your business. Your business plan should answer questions about what your business is now and where you see it going in the future.Business planning involves creating preliminary documents, goals, and plans for your business. This may be necessary when you first have the idea for a business or when you’re changing or adding something to the core of your business. Before you can start getting into the specifics of corporate planning, [...]
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