NC and SC Estate Planning and Elder Law Firm

Personal representatives are tasked with many important responsibilities when it comes to estate administration in South Carolina. Among these responsibilities is properly addressing creditor claims. Proper notice must be provided to potential creditors of the estate and proper payment of valid creditor claims must be made. This is a key part in the estate administration process as well as the part that can take the most time to complete.

Creditor Claims During Estate Administration in South Carolina

In South Carolina, the personal representative of an estate must put creditors on notice of estate administration proceedings.

Over the past few pandemic years, Americans have had to confront some uncomfortable ideas about what they knew or thought they knew about their health and safety. Unfortunately, sudden illness does strike. The unforeseen, as well as the foreseen, does happen. Despite the tough realities we have all grappled with in recent years, a shocking number of Americans still do not have an estate plan in place.

According to a recent study conducted by Caring.

Another school year has come and gone. Some of you may be preparing to send your kid off to college in the fall. The newly available freedom in the future for them can be exciting and, especially as a parent, a little scary. As you prepare yourself and your college kid logistically, mentally, and emotionally for this big transition ahead, consider preparing things legally as well. After all, most students entering college for the first time this fall will be 18 and that means they are now legal adults.
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Medicaid provides health care coverage for qualifying low-income residents in the U.S. While it is a federally mandated program, Medicaid is operated at the state level. With a comprehensive application process and stringent eligibility requirements, it can be frustrating to gain access to Medicaid benefits. This is unfortunate, especially when you consider how many people need access to the program for covering things like doctor visits and nursing home care.
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A living trust as a legal construct in which assets can be stored for distribution at some point and under certain specified conditions to the trust beneficiaries. The trust is managed by the trustee according to the terms set forth in the trust document and for the benefit of the beneficiaries. Many people establish a living trust in order to avoid the probate process. Probate is the public, court-supervised process of administering a decedent’ estate. It can be time consuming and costly.
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To establish a trust, the trustor, the creator of the trust, transfers assets into the trust and appoints a trustee to manage the trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries. Trusts can be established for a number of reasons, including probate avoidance, and have many benefits. If you are looking to include a trust in your estate plan, you will need to choose a trustee to manage that trust.
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Simon immigrated from Ireland to the United States with his family when he was 7 years old and then spent his formative years living in New York. He moved to Charlotte in 2004 and acquired his Bachelor of Arts in history and political science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and then obtained his Juris Doctorate from Elon University School of Law on a full merit scholarship. Since graduating law school, and in an effort to constantly increase his business acumen, Simon has taken numerous post-graduate programs studying business analytics, economics, and negotiation tactics at Harvard University.

Taxes are rarely anyone’s favorite subject. With tax season just wrapping up, you may have had your fill of the topic for a while. Regardless, however, taxes remain an important thing to confront. This may be especially true in the

Do you have a charitable cause you hold close to your heart? Are you looking for ways to make a charitable impact most effectively in your estate plan? If so, you may want to learn more about a charitable lead trust, what it can do, and the benefits it can bring to you, your loved ones, and your favorite charities.

Charitable Lead Trusts

A charitable lead trust is an irrevocable trust which makes charitable contributions for a certain period of time. Afterwards, the assets remaining in the trust are eventually transferred to the named beneficiaries of the trust, who are usually family and other loved ones. This is not to be confused with the charitable remainder trust, which serves similar purposes, albeit inversely. You see, with a charitable remainder trust, the trust pays out a stream of income to family members, or other named parties, for a set period of time and then transfers the remainder of the trust assets to a charitable organization.
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Have you ever heard of a living trust? Have you ever considered using a living trust in your estate plan? While an extremely useful estate planning tool, many have not heard of a living trust or, may have heard of it, but have never considered adding to their estate plan. That is mainly because trusts remain mysterious to most. Many view it is something that wealthy individuals establish for things like tax purposes. The truth is, however, that trusts can be useful to everyone. To give you a clearer picture of what a living trust is, we will discuss the pros and cons of living trusts here.
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When you think about estate planning, you may start to wonder about what an estate really is. What is included in this estate you are planning for? It is a good question and a great way to begin reflecting on your estate and how you want it to be handled after you pass away. Let’s take a look at the different meanings of the word “estate” and the implications the relevant definitions can have on your estate planning process.