Estate Planning

Estate planning is a crucial task for everyone, but it features unique complexities for farmers. In addition to personal assets, farmers must consider many other factors, including land, livestock, equipment and, often, a deeply rooted family legacy. This intricacy is...

You could make a living will as part of your estate plan. This is a type of advance directive. It can be used to spell out your medical wishes so that future doctors can see what you want if you become incapacitated and you can’t make those wishes known on your own....

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably heard of trusts before, but you might not have given them much thought. At their core, trusts are legal agreements that allow you to transfer assets to a trustee, who will then manage them on behalf of your beneficiaries....

Heirs often expect to get the same amount of assets from their parents. For instance, maybe you have three children and you’re going to be dividing up $750,000. If the children know that you have this money as part of your estate, it’s likely that they would all...

When you create a living will or other advance directive for health care or mental health treatment, it’s crucial to designate what Kentucky calls a “health care surrogate.” It’s also wise to name an alternate surrogate.  Their authority applies if you’re unconscious...

Typically, a person can’t disinherit a current spouse – in other words, leave them no inheritance in their will or other estate plan documents. Surviving spouses are generally expected to receive some inheritance when their husband or wife dies. That’s why if a person...

Updating estate documents is an important protective step that many people take every few years. In addition to making changes to the property addressed in a will and the beneficiaries set to inherit said assets, testators may sometimes need to update the living...

Some people believe that they should keep their estate plan secret. They think they should leave it to the executor to inform their family of their wishes. While that approach would potentially make for some great theater, high drama is the last thing your family will...

Adding a new member to the family can be a moment many years in the making. Especially for couples that do not have any children yet, a pregnancy can cause a drastic shift in perspective. While it is often only an intangible concept until the birth of a child, both...

You’ll have so much to contend with when you divorce that you might not even consider revising your estate plan. Yet you definitely need to. Here are some of the things that the revision should include: 1. Updating the list of your estate’s contents Let’s say that...