Life insurance and many retirement accounts pass outside of a will through beneficiary designations. However, brokerage accounts are different. They are usually one of the estate assets passed to heirs through a will.In our April 21 post, we wrote about transferring...
Delaware has become the first state to grant an executor (called a personal representative in Colorado) complete access to digital assets. These include email, online photos and documents in a Shutterfly, dropbox or other cloud storage account and social media...
An ad for luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe states, "You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation." This leads to the question - how do you gift valuable personal possessions through an estate plan?The focus of estate...
What happens to your Facebook profile when you pass away? Will your wide network of friends know? Who decides what happens to your account?Facebook recently launched a new service that allows a user to appoint a Legacy Contact who can access and modify his or her...
Lifetime gifts can play an important role in estate planning. In 2015, the federal gift tax exclusion remained at $14,000 per donee. A couple with three children could give each child up to $28,000 in 2015 without tax consequences.Only about one-third of family-owned...
The general answer is yes, but it will depend on your individual situation. While beneficiary deeds are one tool for smaller estates, they cannot replace a comprehensive estate plan. In 2004, the Colorado legislature approved the use and creation of...
The old saying goes that there are two inevitabilities in life -- death and taxes. In many states, death triggers yet another tax for the survivors of the deceased.But Colorado residents are lucky to live in a state that no longer collects estate taxes. Changes...
Unfortunately, young people in Colorado and other states, often ignore estate planning. Maybe that is because most young people are just in the highlight, or beginning, of building an estate. But young or old, if you have established any assets at all, you should...
A new year is an excellent time for Colorado residents to take stock of their estate plans. Changes in federal tax laws can be evaluated to determine the potential impact on one's heirs. Additionally, this is an important time to make adjustments related to major life...
Colorado individuals who are contemplating planning the disposition of their estates may feel that putting together a will or a trust is sufficient, but it may also be important to take steps to ensure it is less likely that those documents can be contested. Wills and...
