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21st August 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
If Social Security benefits play a significant role in your retirement plan, it may be time to rethink your strategy. The big news on the Social Security front over the past few years has been the fact that, due to an ove... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins13th August 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
The problem created by evenly splitting an interest in real property between your heirs.
Many parents want to give an equal share of the family home or some other sentimental form of real property (actual land usually) ... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins24th July 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
In the not overly distant past, the writings of the testator were the only evidence of his or her intentions and mental capacity. Undue influence was harder to defend against when the only evidence was the testator's writi... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins19th July 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
There is value in the story of an older client who had seen a very interesting clause employed in a will. There was a great deal of money at stake and the many family members had little reason to love each other, because ... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins07th July 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
Wills and trusts have an interesting history in a culture as heavily influenced by British common law as our own. The bequests of wills have been the pole star around which a great deal of mystery fiction has been written... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins25th June 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
As the life expectancy of people in the United States increases, the reality of second and third marriages becomes more likely even for those who tend to marry for a long time if not until the death of their first spouse. ... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins23rd June 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
The whole concept of estate planning has a couple of primary aims: 1) making sure that your assets are distributed where and how you want them to be, and 2) ensuring that your loved ones are cared for and able to comfortab... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins16th June 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
An IRA is an IRA is an IRA, unless it's a Roth IRA. Roth IRAs, which burst upon the investment scene not so long ago, offers some attractive departures from traditional IRAs, especially if it's being used as a retirement ... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins22nd May 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
If you are wisely attempting to put some assets into a trust (inter vivos) in your lifetime, then you have been paying attention to the important differences between wills and trusts. A trust created during your life will... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins21st May 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
The life estate is something every first year law student learns about when they study the arcane and often bizarre history of property law that harkens back to the days of English knights, lords and serfs, and the transfe... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins20th May 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
Every state has statutes and mechanisms in place that deal with disposal of tangible assets whether the deceased had a will or not. Families might fight over who gets the house, the cars, the stocks and the cash, but there... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins17th May 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
Having an offshore banking account, corporation or trust are common themes in legal thrillers, spy novels and eastern European politics. There is a reason to be concerned about the legality of such accounts, for although ... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins15th May 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
The creation of offshore trusts and other financial plans is a way of shielding your assets from the laws of the nation in which you reside. It can sometimes be used to remove one of the two certainties of life; taxes. A... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins15th May 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
Many parents want to give an equal share of the family home or some other sentimental form of real property (actual land usually) to their surviving children in equal shares. As an estate-planning attorney, one often sees... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins25th April 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
If you have decided to put your affairs in order and finally accept the fact that estate planning is something most of us would be better off having than not, the next thing you might be wondering about is how to choose an... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins21st April 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
The first question many people have when considering estate planning is how to protect their spouse in the event that they pass away. Although it is common to offer the advice that a will or trust is the best way to prote... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins20th April 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
Many people wonder if they really need a will. They may think that they don't have enough assets to bother with a will. Some people erroneously believe that a will causes your heirs to have to go through probate, leading t... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins20th April 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
A trust is formed when a person or business (legally referred to as the settlor) puts property into the control of another (person or business), usually called the trustee, for the benefit of a person or group called the b... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins18th April 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
If a person passes on without estate planning of any kind, whether that planning is some kind of will or trust, they are said to have died intestate. Intestate law is the law that decides how assets are transferred and cr... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins16th April 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
A living trust has many advantages over a simple will or testamentary trust (trust after death). The first advantage is that it keeps the IRS even further out of the process than does either a will or trust that becomes e... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins14th April 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
A living will is not about who inherits your stocks and bonds when you die and it doesn't designate who gets the family home or your mother's jewelry. What a living will does is establish your wishes about what happens to... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins21st March 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
The core issues revolving around how you can control your financial, legal and health affairs in the event that you become incapacitated require you to consider drafting some important legal documents with the guidance of ... Read >
21st March 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
Trust and Estates is a rapidly growing area of practice in the law that includes estate planning, managing your estate during life and disposing of your estate at your death through the use of trusts, wills and other plann... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins20th March 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
A living will is a document you draft that stipulates what kind of treatment you want or don't want in the event of an unrecoverable illness or injury that leaves you unable to speak for yourself. It gives you the power to... Read >
Author: Ronald Hudkins17th March 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
There are many ways to protect assets for your loved ones. One way is to use a living trust. Living Trusts are routinely used by average persons, not just the wealthy, to avoid the high cost, publicity and inconvenience of... Read >
15th March 2006
Copyright 2006 Ronald Hudkins
There are several different types of trusts that people use for estate planning. While most fall into specific categories, it is important to understand that trusts are highly individual creations – one size does not fit a... Read >
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