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Have you ever thought about what to do with your loved one's prescriptions after their death? Probably not! To avoid running afoul of laws governing the disposal of drugs, it is important to understand the proper procedures for disposing of a deceased person’s controlled substances. Read this blog for more insight.

As a small business owner, you are probably concerned about losing everything you worked so hard to build if you are forced to pay money due to a claim or lawsuit against your business. You can implement some of these strategies at your business’s inception while other measures need to be consistently followed to maximally protect your personal assets. For more information on this topic, please read this blog.

If you are married to someone who is significantly older or younger than you, the future can look different and mean different things to each of you. It is important that you have an open and honest conversation with your spouse about the financial and estate planning topics. Read this blog to learn more about the issues that couples with an age disparity need to consider.

The sale of multi-million dollar NFTs over the last year has prompted growing interest in them, as well as plenty of questions. Namely, what exactly are NFTs, how are they used, and why would anyone be interested in them? This blog will provide some basic information about NFTs and how to plan for their transfer after your death.

Loan agreements are contracts between you and the lender describing the mutual promises the two parties owe each other. One of the promises you may be required to make is that, in the event of a default on the business loan, your personal assets can be used to satisfy the debt. This is a personal guarantee and can make it easier to borrow money if your business does not have the assets or track record needed to secure a loan.

The federal tax code has very specific rules about how much you are allowed to transfer to others each year—and over the course of your lifetime—in the form of a gift. Any gifts above that amount may be subject to gift tax. But not every gift is subject to gift tax. There are annual exclusion amounts, a lifetime exemption amount, and other exclusions, such as education or medical exclusions, that relieve a giver of paying federal gift taxes. Read this blog to gain a better understanding of the taxation of gifts that you want to give.

Courts are increasingly being asked to determine whether a will that was created and stored on a computer, tablet, or cell phone and e-signed (i.e., an electronic will or e-will) meets the traditional requirements of being “in writing” and “signed by the will maker” to be valid. To learn more about electronic wills, read this blog.

Despite a simple definition, self-dealing is much harder to identify in practice and is often done in ignorance, particularly when there are complicating factors, such as the trustee also being a trust beneficiary. If you are serving as the trustee for a trust, or is you want to learn more about self-dealing, you need to read this blog!

As a small business owner, you are adept at handling challenges. But when it comes to parsing the fine print of the law, you may feel that you are in over your head. You cannot do everything on your own. Every business relies on other businesses to accomplish its goals. Accordingly, there is arguably no partnership more important to your long-term success than the one you have with your business lawyer. If you need a business lawyer, you need to read this blog.

If you own real property and the time and expense required to create a living trust does not make sense for your situation, a transfer-on-death (TOD) deed may be the solution you need to avoid the probate process. Read this blog to understand more about TOD deeds, known as a Transfer on Death Instrument in Illinois.

Deciding what should happen to all of your accounts and property at death can be a big undertaking, especially if either or both spouses have gotten or will be getting remarried, married late in life, or have brought or will be bringing significant amounts of money and property into the marriage. To help alleviate some of the stress that may come from making such decisions, we like to suggest a unique estate planning tool called the pour-over trust. Read this blog for more information on a pour-over trust and how it is utilized in an estate plan.

Uncertainty surrounding what the estate tax laws and the value of accounts and property at the first spouse’s death can leave a couple feeling that they need a crystal ball to make the right decisions. Using either a disclaimer or the so-called Clayton election as part of their estate plan can allow at least some hindsight and, consequently, peace of mind. Read this blog to learn more or contact our office to schedule an appointment.

A financial power of attorney (POA) is a legal document that lets you designate a trusted person to make financial decisions for you (i.e., sign checks, open a bank account, collect your mail, etc.). The financial POA can be immediate, meaning somebody else is authorized to act for you now and into the future, or it can be springing, that is, effective only if and when an event occurs (usually when you become incapacitated or unable to make decisions for yourself). To learn more about a financial power of attorney that is effective immediately vs. one that is springing, read this blog!

Statement of Intent vs. Letter of Intent - which one is best to use in your estate plan? The reasons a trustmaker creates a trust are special and important, but the trustmaker's intent or purpose for creating a trust can also have significant legal ramifications. Therefore, it is often critical that a trustmaker express in writing the purpose for creating the trust.

Small businesses are audited at about twice the rate of individual taxpayers, and the IRS is ramping up small business audits. To catch all of the tax breaks that you qualify for while avoiding undue scrutiny, it is useful to familiarize yourself with the most common small business tax deductions. Read this blog before filing your small business tax return!

We celebrate Valentine's Day each year on February 14th.  Although the day originated as a Christian feast day, also known as Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, Valentine's Day has become a significant cultural and commercial celebration of love around the world.  One of the best gifts of love that you can give to someone is an estate plan setting forth your wishes.  Read this blog to learn why!

The gift of a 529 college savings plan is a great legacy for a grandparent to give to a grandchild. Opening a 529 plan account helps a grandchild with educational expenses, and helps the grandparents with their estate planning goals. In the near future, changes to the student aid application (FAFSA) rules, 529 distributions from a grandparents' 529 plan will be even more beneficial to the student. Read this blog for more information on grandparents' ability to fund a 529 plan for a grandchild.

Most business owners have heard the phrase "piercing the corporate veil", whereby creditors who win a legal judgment against the corporation or LLC target the personal assets of a shareholder or LLC member to satisfy the debt. But few have heard of reverse veil piercing, which is an exception to the legal separateness between corporate or LLC entities and their owners, but in the opposite direction. When the corporate veil is pierced—in reverse—business assets can be used to pay for obligations incurred by the owner. Read this blog to learn more about review veil piercing and the state courts that have ruled in favor of it.

Once your bankruptcy matter has been closed with the courts, you may wonder what the next steps are. This is where an estate plan becomes extremely important. Read this blog to understand more about what you should do after your bankruptcy.

What happens to your estate if you file for bankruptcy protection but die while still in bankruptcy? What if one of your beneficiaries is in bankruptcy or is soon likely to be? None of us knows what the future holds, so you should consider these important issues in your estate plan, even if the possibility of bankruptcy seems far-fetched right now. Read this blog to learn more about ways to protect your assets from creditors.

A board of directors is not something that only big companies have. All S corporations and C corporations—even small businesses—are legally required to have boards of directors. Specific rules for the board of directors are established by state law or in the corporate bylaws and other corporate documents. Read this blog to learn more about the establishing a board of directors for your business. 

Parents strive to make their children feel equally valued as reflected in the fact that, when setting up an estate plan, parents typically divide their accounts and property equally among their children. Instead of simply dividing your accounts and property equally among your children, you can place accounts and property in what is known as a pot trust or common trust with instructions for your trustee on how to spend the money and property on behalf of all the beneficiaries. Keep reading to learn more about the use of a common trust for your children in your estate plan.

Since no one can predict how much they will own at the time of their death, which spouse will die first, whether the surviving spouse will remarry, or what the estate tax rate will be when they die, a QTIP trust can help deal with and minimize these uncertainties about the future and maximize certain tax advantages - without the need for a crystal ball. Read this blog to learn more about a QTIP trust.

A pour-over will adds peace of mind to your trust-based estate plan. If you neglect to transfer any accounts and property into a living trust during your lifetime, or fail to designate the trust or anyone else as a beneficiary at your death, the pour-over will ensures that those assets end up in the trust after you die. To learn more about a pour-over will, continue reading this blog.

An important question arises regarding the type of deed that should be used for transferring real property into the trust's name. There are several types of deeds that can be used, one of which is a general warranty deed. The other types of deeds commonly used in the United States for transferring property are quitclaim deeds and special warranty deeds. Read this blog to gain a better understanding of the impact the type of deed has on your estate plan.