Katharine Paljug is a financial writer and editor with over a decade of industry experience. Her writing has covered nearly every aspect of the financial world, from investing in forex to paying for ...

When creating an estate plan, one of the most basic documents you may wish to include is a will. If you have a more complicated estate, you might also need to have a trust in place. Both a will and a ...

Per stirpes is a legal term used in the law governing inheritance and estate. It is a designation that decrees how the assets of a testator (person making the will) will be distributed when a ...

Choosing a primary beneficiary - and contingent beneficiaries - is the only way to ensure that your funds are allocated according to your wishes. The per capita designation is usually the default ...

When it comes to your estate plan, there are a lot of decisions you’ll have to make. Arguably, one of the most important decisions involves identifying to whom, and how, you want assets to pass when ...

Ah, those Latin words that lawyers love. Or, at least, used to. These days most lawyers do try to communicate in English, but some Latin terms persist because they are shorthand for well understood in ...

You've kept your will updated regularly to make sure your assets are distributed according to your wishes upon death. Have you done the same thing with your beneficiary designations? If not, your ...

The majority of beneficiary designations are straightforward. Spouses leave retirement accounts primarily to each other and contingently divided among their children. If their children have not yet ...

In Archer v. Moody, the litigants in the declaratory judgment action were remainder beneficiaries of a trust created in 1934 and owned a 15,000-acre ranch near Junction, Texas. No. 14-15-00945-CV, ...

Like many aspects of personal finance, estate planning can be daunting. You’ll encounter complicated terms, intimidating procedures and it’s all about your inevitable demise. Of course, everyone ...