How to Avoid the Need For a Prenuptial Agreement—Part 1

by Trust Counsel | Jul 27, 2020 | Articles, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family, Financial

If you’re counting down the days to your wedding, divorce is probably the last thing you and your fiancé want to be thinking about, and yet you might be rightfully concerned about what would happen to your assets in the event of a divorce—or your death. You may also...

COVID-19 Highlights Critical Need for Advance Healthcare Directives—Part 2

by Trust Counsel | Jul 20, 2020 | Articles, Family, Health Care Directive

In the first part of this series, we discussed the vital importance of having updated advance directives in place in light of COVID-19. Here, we’ll look at several additional provisions you should consider adding to your directives to address potential contingencies...

Karl Lagerfeld’s Cat

by Trust Counsel | Jul 13, 2020 | Articles, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family, Financial, Inheritance, Trusts, Wills

When Chanel’s creative director Karl Lagerfeld passed away in 2019, rumors went wild about who would inherit his $270 million estate. Many of those rumors claimed that he wanted his Birman cat, Choupette, to get it all. A year later, we’re still waiting to get the...

A Tragic Oversight: Kobe Bryant’s Youngest Daughter Mistakenly Left Out of Family Trust

by Trust Counsel | Jul 8, 2020 | Articles, Asset Protection, Business Succession, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family, Financial, Trusts, Wills

In January, we reported how the deaths of NBA legend Kobe Bryant (Kobe) and his 13-year-old daughter, Brianna, in a helicopter crash demonstrated the vital need for estate planning for people of all ages. At the time, little was known about the planning strategies...

Your “Blended” Family Is Likely Headed to Court Unless You Do This

by Trust Counsel | Jun 26, 2020 | Articles, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family, Trusts, Wills

If you have a blended family and do not plan for what happens to your assets in the event of your incapacity or eventual death, you are almost certainly guaranteeing hurt feelings, conflict, and maybe even a long, drawn out court battle. So let’s start with clarity...

Protecting Your Parents from Undue Influence during Covid and Beyond

by Trust Counsel | May 4, 2020 | Articles, Estate Tax, Family, Health Care Directive

In a previous article, we shared steps to understanding your parents’ estate planning and the nature of their assets, as well as how to ensure you’re not left with a mess when something happens to them. Today, we want to focus on one of the major risks of not being...