Heath Ledger: Lights Out, Legacy Unbound

by Trust Counsel | Jun 9, 2023 | Articles, Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Probate, Trusts, Uncategorized

Whether you know him from his breakthrough role in “10 Things I Hate About You,” “A Knight’s Tale,” or his haunting and infamous performance as the one and only bat-hating gangster, the Joker, Heath Ledger, in his short, memorable life,...

Does Your Family Need Umbrella Insurance?

by Trust Counsel | Apr 10, 2022 | Articles, Asset Protection, Family, Financial, Probate

In today’s highly litigious society you are at near-constant risk for costly lawsuits—even if you’ve done nothing wrong. This is especially true if you have substantial wealth, but even those with relatively few assets can find themselves in court facing a potentially...

Probate: What It Is & How To Avoid It—Part 2

by Trust Counsel | Mar 20, 2022 | Articles, Probate, Trusts, Wills

Unless you’ve created an estate plan that works to keep your family out of court, when you die (or become incapacitated) many of your assets must go through probate before those assets can be distributed to your heirs. Like most court proceedings, probate can be...

Probate: What It Is & How To Avoid It—Part 1

by Trust Counsel | Mar 13, 2022 | Articles, Asset Protection, Financial, Probate, Trusts, Wills

Unless you’ve created a proper estate plan, when you die many of your assets must first pass through the court process known as probate before those assets can be distributed to your heirs. Like most court proceedings, probate can be time-consuming, costly, and open...

A Not-So-Happy Accident: Bob Ross’s Estate Planning Failures Leave His Son With Next to Nothing—Part 2

by Trust Counsel | Sep 24, 2021 | Articles, Asset Protection, Celebrity Estates, Estate Planning, Family, Financial, Probate, Trusts, Wills

As the host of the wildly popular The Joy of Painting TV series on PBS, Bob Ross became a pop-culture icon, who was equally famous for his giant head of hair, soothing baritone voice, and folksy demeanor as he was for his iconic landscape paintings. And like so many...

Does Your Estate Plan Protect Your Intellectual Property?

by Trust Counsel | Jan 29, 2021 | Articles, Asset Protection, Business Succession, Business/ Corporate Law, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Financial, Gift Tax, Health Care Directive, High Net Worth, Intellectual Property, Liens/Debt, Probate, Probate Litigation, Trusts, Wills

If you own a business, you almost certainly have intellectual property. However, because your intellectual property is intangible, it can be invisible to you and those who aren’t familiar with the nature of intellectual property and its value, so it often gets...