With any Colorado estate that requires probate court review, a final accounting summarizes receipts and payments during the estate administration process and remaining assets to disburse to heirs. The Colorado Judicial Branch provides standard forms that can help with...
Giving strategies are as varied as the family. And while lifetime giving has tax advantages, it is often about more than tax planning.For many parents and grandparents, lifetime giving is an opportunity to help adult children with a down payment on a first home or to...
Beneficiary designations on pay-on-death accounts – life insurance, 401(k) or Roth retirement funds and saving/checking accounts – are too often ignored.Upon purchasing a life insurance policy or setting up a Roth, your loved one probably listed a...
Hard to believe as it is, the artist passed away two years ago in April 2016. In the meantime, his home at Paisley Park has been turned into a public museum. And his $100 to $300 million-dollar estate is still being fought over by a sibling and half-siblings.In his...
At our law firm, we provide estate planning and asset protection advice to clients in a wide variety of personal and business circumstances. When a client is a business owner, establishing a carefully thought out business succession plan is a key part of the process....
A recent Colorado Court of Appeals illustrates what can go wrong following the death of a loved one. From determining whether what a parent did was a mistake or part of a plan to flawed attempts to avoid litigation, the case raises issues about pay-on-death...
Regardless of what a collector claims on the phone, you are not legally responsible to pay a credit card bill in most cases. A collections agent may cite “moral obligation” to exploit your desire to do the right thing, but you cannot let a debt collector...
It is possible to be a beneficiary of a will, but not an heir. Yet heirs are not always beneficiaries. You do not have to leave your assets to your spouse, child or sibling (your technical ‘heirs’). You may want to set aside funds in a pet trust for your...
Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal has made many waves across the medical profession and has important implications for estate planning. Gawande is a practicing surgeon and acclaimed writer who audaciously tackled the immense issue of how the healthcare system has...
Many creditors take an aggressive approach after the death of a loved one. As a personal representative, be cautious. Depleting an estate’s cash to pay these “squeaky wheels” can cause trouble down the road.Because you may only administer an estate...
