If you have children, you likely plan on leaving your estate to them when you die. What do you do, though, if you have no children and are not married at the time of your death? You may not know who to leave your estate to, but there are a number of different options. Leave... read more
Over the past year, the COVID-19 global pandemic has affected billions of people around the world. Many of these people have lost their jobs and have faced being evicted or having their home foreclosed upon. This has led many people to wonder if it’s time to declare bankruptcy. However, before you do, there are a... read more
If you accidentally make a mistake on your bankruptcy forms or forgot an asset, it may delay your case, but it won’t send you to jail or get you fined. However, if you intentionally leave out assets or other information that impacts your case, you can be found guilty of bankruptcy fraud. This is a... read more
One of the phrases you may hear when learning about estate planning is dead hand control. This morbid sounding phrase may make you think of a mummy, but it actually has to do with how your assets are handled by your heirs. Dead hand control allows, to some extent, for you to dictate when your... read more
If you’re going through a bankruptcy, you may be under the false impression that any debt you incur will be wiped away. That’s not the case, especially if you’re filing Chapter 13 and reorganizing your debt. If you do decide to go on a spending spree either right before or during your bankruptcy, the court... read more
Creating a trust is one way of ensuring that your heirs are taken care of and that at least some of your assets do not go through probate. Trusts also have some tax benefits and give you some control over how your heirs use their inheritance. If you are married, you and your spouse could... read more
If you have determined that bankruptcy is your best option, you may want to file as soon as you can. In some cases, that is definitely the right move. However, at other times, you may actually want to wait a little bit. Understanding what the best and worst times to file are can help you... read more
In your will and on your various accounts, you have named who your heirs are and what they will receive. However, what would happen if you and at least one of your heirs were to die at the same time? It can happen in a car crash or other accident. There are some things you... read more
Declaring bankruptcy doesn’t immediately discharge your debts. In fact, bankruptcy court can take months or, in some cases, even a year or more to fully go through your finances and discharge debt. In the meantime, you still have bills piling up. However, the good news is that some of these bills fall under an automatic... read more
Many people have family heirlooms that they have inherited from their parents or grandparents. Some of these items may have been in your family for generations and hold significant sentimental value, if not actual monetary value. Even those that aren’t as old, such as a piece of jewelry your grandmother owned, may be considered valuable... read more