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Placing Property In A Revocable Trust

A common estate planning mistake occurs when individuals own or acquire property outside of a trust. This can lead to unintended tax consequences and exposing property to probate or creditors.

Placing property in a revocable trust provides benefits such as allowing assets to avoid the probate process. In addition, by placing property in a revocable trust, it will allow family members or loved ones to have control over the assets in the event that the creator of the trust becomes incapacitated. Otherwise, a court may need to appoint a guardian.

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Adding A Prenuptial or Postnuptial Agreement To An Estate Plan

Many people who are looking to tie the knot believe that mentioning a prenuptial agreement eliminates the romance. However, like any business relationship, a prenuptial or even a postnuptial agreement provide a range of benefits and security to both parties involved in the marriage.

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Estate Plans Should Account for Digital Assets

Whether it’s through social media, online bank accounts, PayPal or email, today many people are storing their personal information and finances online. When an individual passes away, his or her online accounts will continue to remain active. For this reason, it is important to account for digital assets in an estate plan. By defining what assets an individual owns and how to access them, a person will ensure that their loved ones can access online accounts that may have sentimental, financial, or practical value. Additionally, making these accounts available to beneficiaries after death can prevent them from falling into the wrong hands, resulting in fraud or hacking.

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Important Documents to Have in Place Specifically for End-of-Life Decisions

Every individual should have documents such as a Health Care Proxy, Living Will, Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) and/or Do Not Intubate (DNI), and Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) in place to assist loved ones who may need to make medical decisions on their behalf, including end-of-life decisions. A brief overview of the purpose of each document can be found below.

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Probating a Will

It is important to create a comprehensive estate plan, and there are certain measures that one can take to avoid probate if done correctly. Probate is the legal process whereby a last will and testament is determined to be valid and authentic by a court of law. Under New Jersey State Law, the will is admitted to probate when the executor files a “Petition for Probate” with the decedent’s will attached. Additionally, if the decedent died without a will, then an administrator would apply with the Surrogate. Probate proceedings take place in the county surrogate’s court where the decedent resided at the time of their death.

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