Chances are, you are reading this article because you want to know whether you really need to hire a lawyer to draft your will. And to be honest, I bet you already know that answer to that question, or else you wouldn’t be reading through an estate planning lawyer’s website. Listen, if you are hell-bent getting a Will drafted on the cheap, there are many websites that will do this for you for much less than the cost of hiring an estate planning lawyer. The question is, in this age of technology and information, should you hire a lawyer to […]
Protecting the Kids
Create an Estate Plan in North Carolina in 14 Simple Steps
Would you like to create an estate plan so that your family and children are protected in the event you have to walk out on life or are otherwise unable to care for them? Here is a quick and easy checklist of all the things you will need to consider to create and estate plan. Quickly and Easily Create an Estate Plan #1 Get Down to Basics – You Need a Will. The first think you will need to do is create a Will in North Carolina. Your Last Will and Testament will state who you would want to inherit […]
Using a Standalone Retirement Trust to Create a Retirement Plan for Your Kids
Some lawyers feel that trusts are unnecessary for most people. But some lawyers also don’t know what a standalone retirement trust is. Trusts can be an invaluable planning tool, and here is another example of how they can be used. What is a Standalone Retirement Trust and Why are they So Important? A standalone retirement trust is a trust, typically drafted separate and apart from your revocable living trust, that is named as a beneficiary of your retirement accounts. Why are they so important? Did you know that qualified retirement benefits (your 401k), IRA’s and life insurance proceeds make up between […]
Kids Emergency Action Plan (KEAP™ Your Kids Safe)
The Kids Emergency Action Plan, (which we also refer to as the KEAP™ Your Kids Safe Plan), is a special package that we put together for our families with minor children and is included in all of our will and trust-based plans. Click here to view all of our estate planning services. The Kids Emergency Action Plan will give you total peace of mind that your children are safe and taken care of should anything ever happen to you and/or your spouse such that neither of you is available to care for and protect your children. A KEAP™ provides this peace […]
How a Spare Tire Is Like Your Estate Plan
Yesterday was the first Monday of 2017, and while many people were home watching football, I was one of the few people in my office building working. But apparently that was a bad decision because when I left the office last night, I found a flat tire waiting for me when I got to my car. So I did what any normal adult would do, I called my Wife to tell her what had happened, then I took off my jacket, rolled up my sleeves, and put on the spare tire so I could make it home. This morning, I’m […]
What is a Trust and Why Do I need one for Estate Planning?
One of the most common questions I get from people during their initial meeting in my office is “what is a trust and why do I need one ?” It’s a question I get asked over and over, in part because a trust is one of the foundational elements of a comprehensive estate plan. So the purpose of this blog post is to give you a quick rundown of trust basics in North Carolina. And clearly, when I wrote this post, I didn’t realize that I had previously written a comprehensive post on using trusts in your estate plan over […]
Asset Protection for Professionals and Small Business Owners in Cary, North Carolina
One of the main ways to protect your wealth if you are a small business or a professional is to use one or more asset protection techniques to keep your assets away from would-be creditors. What is Asset Protection? A lot of people have heard of asset protection, but not many people truly understand what this term means. In a nutshell, asset protection is a concept that employs a multiple of different legal strategies to protect one’s wealth from future creditors. What is a future creditor? A creditor could come in a number of forms. It could be as simple […]
Children’s Security Planning
You need to be a parent to fully understand what it means to want to protect your children. And as a parent of three young children myself, I can tell you that my wife and I would do anything to protect our kids. And that is why I created the KEAP™ your kids safe plan (KEAP™ is short for “Kids Emergency Action Plan”) for parents to make sure that if anything were to ever happen to them, that their kids would be safe, protected, and cared for during the most traumatic of times. So let me ask you… What would […]
Estate Planning 101: The Basics of Estate Planning in North Carolina
It’s amazing how many people don’t understand what estate planning in North Carolina is, or the many benefits and peace-of-mind that a carefully thought out estate plan can bring to you and your family. Having a complete and thorough estate plan in place is an amazing gift to your family and children. Unfortunately, most people think that estate planning in North Carolina is simply drafting up some legal documents, such as a will or a trust, throwing those documents in a drawer or file cabinet, and checking “estate planning” off the list of things that they have to do. Nevermind […]
Cary Estate Planning Law Firm
How Can We Help YOU to Protect Your Family and Pass on Your Legacy? Do You know who would take care of and support your children and other loved ones if you unexpectedly passed away or became incapacitated? You probably have at least a general idea of who would take custody of your kids, but does that person have the legal right to take custody of your children? In other words, would the police have the legal authority to transfer the care of your children, who you love more than anything, to that person or would they be forced to […]
