It is a new year, and everyone is listing things that they want to accomplish in 2012. You might be interested in a new healthy eating regimen, or workout schedule, but why not add updating your estate planning to that list? Twenty-twelve is the year of the estate plan! If you haven't established a way to… Continue reading Resolutions
Category: Wills
Why Should I Get A Will Now?
The more clients and friends that we talk to, the more we see why so many people put off writing their will. No one especially wants to think about their own future death, and no one really wants to plan for it. In reality, however, everyone needs to have a will prepared, even at a… Continue reading Why Should I Get A Will Now?
Annual Giving – Tis the Season
There is more than one way to give your estate to your family. A will or a trust are both options for passing your estate to your friends or family after death. You can, however, give your estate during life without tax consequences. There is an annual tax exclusion that encompasses $13,000 per recipient. This… Continue reading Annual Giving – Tis the Season
Medicaid Planning – Planning for Your Future Health Costs
Skillern Law is excited to be adding Medicaid/Nursing Home Estate Planning to our practice areas. It's a new type of estate planning in the law, and it's becoming more and more important as the baby boomers are growing older. A lot of people do not know what it is or what it entails exactly. Let's… Continue reading Medicaid Planning – Planning for Your Future Health Costs
Stepchildren, adopted children, and half-blood relatives: No Child Left Behind.
Oklahoma has some unusual laws when it comes to step-children and half-blood relatives, especially in the intestate inheritance laws. Just as a reminder, intestate merely means that the person who passed away died without a will, and so the state's inheritance laws are in effect. Oklahoma's statute, Okla. Stat. tit. 84, § 213 (1994), is… Continue reading Stepchildren, adopted children, and half-blood relatives: No Child Left Behind.
Estate Planning for Everyone
A few years ago, my mother sent me the Jessica's morning affirmation video. I haven't woken up every morning with Jessica's joie de vivre, this morning I did. My whole house is great. I can do anything good. I realized that I can really make a difference for same-sex couples with estate planning. I'm not as sure… Continue reading Estate Planning for Everyone
Living, revocable, and irrevocable. Let’s talk trusts.
Today on the Tulsa Estate Planning Blog, we're going to explain the difference between a living trust, a revocable trust, and an irrevocable trust. Specifically, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the types of trusts. So let's get started. A living trust and a revocable trust are usually, if not always, the same thing. … Continue reading Living, revocable, and irrevocable. Let’s talk trusts.
The Difference Between A Will And A Trust
Lions, tigers and bears! Oh my! Sometimes thinking about estate planning is as scary as a pack of wild animals. Understanding wills and trusts might make one feel as if they aren't, perhaps, in Kansas anymore, but the differences and similarities are easy to learn. Let start small. Wills and trusts both dispose of property… Continue reading The Difference Between A Will And A Trust
Power of Attorney
Some people do not know the importance of having a power of attorney form within your estate planning documents, or what it even does. Today on Tulsa Estate Planning Blog, let's break it down to see if you might need to consider getting one executed. People I meet do not often stop to reflect on… Continue reading Power of Attorney
No contest: understanding an ‘in terrorem’ clause
An in terrorem clause, or a no contest clause, is a clause that provides that a beneficiary who contests a will shall take nothing, or a small amount, in lieu of the provisions made for the beneficiary in the will. No contest clauses are useful clauses to reinforce the benefit of estate planning - in that estate… Continue reading No contest: understanding an ‘in terrorem’ clause