| Living Wills -- Life-Prolonging Procedures |
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| Your healthcare decisions are likely to be influenced by many factors, including your medical history, your knowledge of other people's experiences, or your religious beliefs. While putting together your living will, you should become familiar with the kinds of medical procedures that are most commonly administered to patients who are seriously ill. Of course, the types of medical procedures that are available change as time passes. Additionally, the treatments that are available vary by region, depending on the sophistication and financing of medical facilities. More... |
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| Estate-Tax Valuation -- Real Property |
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| The value of any real property as of a given date is subject to widely differing opinions. If there is no market for the property, it should be valued at (a) the highest price available, or (b) the amount it will bring as salvage, whichever is greater. More... |
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| State Death Taxes - General Issues |
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| Almost every state levies a tax at death. Many states impose an inheritance tax, which is imposed on the right to inherit property. This should be compared with an estate tax, which is a tax imposed on the right to transfer property. The distinction is important because an inheritance tax is levied on the share of each beneficiary individually and not estate as a whole. The importance of this distinction is that the closer the relationship to the decedent, the greater the exemption (if there is one) and the lower the rate of tax. For instance, some states don't tax transfers to surviving spouses while others provide a lower rate of tax for transfers to children, parents, or surviving spouses.More... |
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| Probate -- Overview |
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| In a civilized society, a legal mechanism for dealing with a deceased person's property is essential. Think of the chaos that would result if, when someone died, the law allowed anyone free access to take all or any part of the deceased person's property on a "first come" basis. Instead, we have developed a system that protects and sometimes directs the distribution of property on a persons death. Our laws recognize that some order must be maintained in the situation and so they provide, among other things, for what is called the right of "freedom of testation" and a legal process to deal with those estates that have exercised that right, as well as those that have not.More... |
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| Will Substitutes |
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| In many jurisdictions, trusts cannot be revoked unless the trustor expressly retains the right to revoke. Revocable living trusts allow a trustor to manage his assets, to plan for his incapacity, and to avoid probate. The beneficiary of the trust gains interest in the assets during the trustor's lifetime and gains possession upon the trustor's death.More... |
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