Estate Planning & Probate

If you're thinking about writing your will in North Carolina, there's no time like the present. You might have to revise it later in life, but it'll be easier once you've already assessed and valued most of your assets. Just make sure you include everything in your...

Choosing the right trustee is one of the most important decisions you can make for your North Carolina estate. When you're gone, the trustee will manage the trust, distribute assets, communicate with the beneficiaries and, ideally, act in your estate's best interest...

Many North Carolina adults fail to create an estate plan, often leaving a mess behind for their families. Addressing some of the perceived obstacles in estate planning can help people stop procrastinating and move ahead with preparing this important documentation....

There are so many considerations to understand when planning beneficiaries for a loved one with special needs in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The same estate planning and trust planning needs to occur to ensure that this individual receives the most appropriate...

High net worth individuals in North Carolina are likely aware of the changes that came about with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. For one thing, it increased the federal estate tax basic exclusion from $5 million to $10 million. What people may not know is that many of the...

When people in North Carolina think about planning for the future, they may be worried about what probate would mean for their estate. There are a number of estate planning techniques that can enable assets to pass outside of probate, which is often considered...

In most cases, the person who has been chosen or appointed to oversee a North Carolina estate will have the estate’s best interests in mind. However, this is not always the case. If an executor fails to live up to his or her fiduciary duties, it may be possible to...

Some people in North Carolina who are creating an estate plan might want to avoid probate. In some cases, a combination of strategies may accomplish this. For example, it might be possible to leave a home to another individual if both people are joint tenants with...

For North Carolina residents looking to set up an estate plan, reducing taxes and avoiding probate tend to be the most common goals. However, estate planning professionals understand that less predictable risks exist and can wreak havoc on trust funding and other tax...

There are many steps that North Carolina residents and others need to take to create an adequate estate plan. The first step is to create an inventory of their personal and business assets. It will also be necessary to either estimate their value or have them...