NC and SC Estate Planning and Elder Law Firm

If you die without a valid will in place, you are deemed to have died intestate. Without a valid will, the state intestacy laws will apply and your assets will be distributed accordingly. This is why it is so important to estate plan. Without a valid will, you lose control of who will get what from your estate. Take the time to put an estate plan in place and know that your wishes will be honored after you pass away.
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An often overlooked, but very important, aspect of estate planning are health care directives. These are legal documents that can describe the medical care you want should you be unable to communicate your wishes to your family, friends, and treating medical providers. You should not wait until you are ill, injured, or otherwise incapacitated to put these documents into place. They are crucial in the event of the unexpected happening. If you ever become incapacitated, health care directives can ensure that your wishes are carried out even when you are unable to communicate them.
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Whether it is a dog, cat, bird, or other kind of animal, our pets are like family. Like family, we want to make sure our pets are properly cared for after we pass away. This is possible with careful estate planning.
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Estate planning does not seem like a pleasant prospect. It does involve thinking about death and incapacitation, two things people generally do not want to reflect on. Estate planning, however, is too important to avoid. Confronting difficult questions is the only way to legally protect yourself and the best interests of your loved ones. If you think you are too young, too healthy, too poor, or any other reason to need to estate plan now, reconsider.
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Just like individuals, trusts are subject to taxes at both the state and federal level. How a trust is taxed will vary depending on the type of trust funds. Sometimes a trust will incur the tax liability. Other times a trust fiduciary or beneficiary will incur the tax liability.

How are Trusts Taxed?

In North and South Carolina, trusts are subject to taxes when there is taxable income being generated by the assets held in trust.
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It is easy for attorneys to forget that the specialized terms we toss around every day are not words that most people have ever heard before. At Monk Law, we go out of our way to ensure our clients fully understand all of the documents they are signing, and the terms in them. 

It is our duty to our clients to make sure that we communicate clearly, so below is a list of common estate planning terms and a plain English definition of them.
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When people rail against the “death tax” what they are typically talking about are estate taxes. But the close cousin of the estate tax, the inheritance tax, can cause just as much mayhem if not properly planned for. 

What’s the difference between estate taxes and inheritance taxes? 

The “death tax” that everyone knows about is the estate tax. The federal government, and some states, take a percentage of the wealth that is transferred at someone’s death. The tax is paid by the estate of the person who died.
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In his novel Sycamore Row John Grisham takes us back to Ford County, Mississippi where Jack Brigance, the lawyer made famous in A Time To Kill, has taken on another challenging case. 

A wealthy man name Seth Hubbard has hung himself in a sycamore tree and left almost his entire fortune to his black maid. Hubbard’s children, who thought they would be inheriting their ailing father’s millions, contest the will. They argue Hubbard’s handwritten will should not invalidate his earlier, professionally drafted plan. They suggest the maid must have hoodwinked Hubbard.
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If you have ever bought a piece of property or watched a tv show like Antiques Roadshow you are probably vaguely familiar with the concept of appraisals — a professional assessment of the market value of a piece of real estate or an item. But did you know that appraisals are an important part of the estate planning and Read more . . .

Someone recently wrote in to the MarketWatch advice column with an interesting question about parents who are willing and able to make gifts now versus waiting until they have passed away to pass on their wealth. It’s a good reminder of two critical aspects of estate planning — communicating your intentions to your loved ones and taking advantage of the annual gift tax exclusion. 

An Interesting Question

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A recent article in the MarketWatch advice column caught our eye because it is a scenario we have seen played out far too many times. A blended family is at one another’s throats because one sibling took advantage of her step-father’s poor estate planning in order to benefit her own family. Family disputes over estate planning and inheritances are incredibly common, but largely preventable if you work with an Read more . . .