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Beneficiary Designation, Divorce, Estate Planning, Family Law, Intestacy, Legal News, Life Insurance, Minor Estate Planning, Oklahoma, Oklahoma News, Sex-Same Planning, Trusts, Wills

Estate Planning After a Divorce

Going through a divorce is an incredibly challenging and emotionally draining experience. Following the upheaval of separating assets and rebuilding your life, it's important to remember to update your estate plan. Estate planning after a divorce is crucial to safeguarding your assets. Following divorce it's important that you revisit your most recent last will and… Continue reading Estate Planning After a Divorce

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Advance Directives, Beneficiary Designation, Estate Planning, Legal News, Oklahoma, Our Attorney, probate, Sex-Same Planning, Uncategorized, Wills

Common Law Marriage and Probate

Common Law Marriage Common law marriage, also known as an informal marriage, is a legally recognized marriage between two people who have not obtained a marriage license or held a formal ceremony. Not every state recognizes common law marriage as a valid and legal form of marriage, so a couple desiring to enter into a… Continue reading Common Law Marriage and Probate

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Beneficiary Designation, Estate Planning, Legal News, Oklahoma, Our Attorney, probate, Trusts, Uncategorized, Wills

When Estate Planning Revisions Are Necessary

The hardest step of estate planning is the initial preparation of your Will or your Trust. But, it is sometimes necessary that you may need to revise your estate planning documents. We all know life happens, beneficiaries or trustees pass away, someone unexpected comes into your life, or maybe you start to feel a little… Continue reading When Estate Planning Revisions Are Necessary

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Beneficiary Designation, Estate Planning, Oklahoma, probate, Transfer on Death Deed, Trusts, Uncategorized

Transfer on Death Deeds: What you need to know.

In estate planning, there are two types of avenues for when someone passes, probate transfers and non-probate transfers. Non-probate transfers have become increasingly popular because no one wants to actually go through the hassle of dealing with a probate. One way to ensure that property does not have to go through probate is to execute… Continue reading Transfer on Death Deeds: What you need to know.

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Beneficiary Designation, Estate Planning, Family Law, Legal News, Minor Estate Planning, Oklahoma, Oklahoma News, Trusts, Uncategorized

Minors as Beneficiaries: A Good Idea or More Than You Bargained For?

Issues can pop up when you leave minors as beneficiaries. Read it about them here!

Beneficiary Designation, Business, Digital Assets, Estate Planning, Legal News, Life Insurance, Oklahoma News, Trusts

Planning for your Digital Estate

As our world moves further along in the Digital Age, we as a society have become increasingly dependent and intrigued with the digital world around us. As a result of this dependence we have created and accumulated vast amounts of "digital assets". These digital assets range from and include the digital files on a computer,… Continue reading Planning for your Digital Estate

Beneficiary Designation, Estate Planning, Transfer on Death Deed, Trusts, Uncategorized

Oklahoma’s Transfer on Death Deeds

Before 2008, there was no way in Oklahoma for real property or mineral rights to skip probate except for a revocable trust. In 2008, the Oklahoma legislature passed 58 O.S. Section 1251-1258. This statute codified Oklahoma's Transfer on Death Deed ("TODD"), otherwise known as a "beneficiary deed." This allows the owners of real property, including… Continue reading Oklahoma’s Transfer on Death Deeds

Beneficiary Designation, Estate Planning, Oklahoma, Oklahoma News, Our Attorney, probate

Oklahoma Small Estate Affidavit

Oklahoma permits the distribution of a small estate without probate, if the estate is worth $50,000 or less in total. There are two ways to avoid probate using affidavits in Oklahoma - one for financial accounts, one for personal property. The first type of "Small Estate Affidavit" allowed in Oklahoma is one for financial accounts… Continue reading Oklahoma Small Estate Affidavit

Beneficiary Designation, Estate Planning, Family Law, Life Insurance, Oklahoma, Trusts

(Minor) Children in Your Estate Planning

When handling people's estate plans, I am often asked how life insurance, retirement accounts, and other “beneficiary” property should be handled with regards to the young children. More often than not,  people with children want some or all of the proceeds of these accounts to go to their minor children. For example, if a client… Continue reading (Minor) Children in Your Estate Planning

Beneficiary Designation, Estate Planning, Legal News, Oklahoma, probate, Trusts

Funding A Revocable Trust

Whenever an attorney creates a Revocable Living Trust for a client, the trust needs to be funded.  "What does it mean to fund a trust?" is a common question that our attorney at the Skillern Law Firm  gets from clients.  It is a very important step in the estate planning process. To see what a Revocable… Continue reading Funding A Revocable Trust