The Elrod Firm Blog

No one has success in basketball by going it alone. But surrounding yourself with a great team is essential to success in more than just basketball. I’m sure each and every one of them would tell you that they couldn’t have accomplished what they have in life on their own. In basketball and life, success is a team effort.

One of the best gifts you can give your children is to set up your own estate plan. Most people who come to see us, “want to get their affairs in order.” They want to make sure their property is distributed according to their wishes when they pass away. We can definitely help set up a plan to meet that goal. With proper planning, however, you can also avoid probate court and protect your assets from the cost of long-term care.

Many people don’t realize that they can pass on all types of assets, even retirement accounts, to the next generation in safe and protected ways that don’t risk turning the gift into a curse when the recipient proves he or she was not equipped to handle it.

For better or worse, when someone passes away, their property is not distributed based on what’s equitable—or what’s fair—under the circumstances.

Owning a business is a major undertaking. After putting so much of your energy, time, and money into starting and running a business, the last thing you want is for the business to just “end” because something happens to you. But that’s exactly what can happen if you don’t plan ahead for some sort of business succession. Even if the plan is to simply sell the business assets and wrap up shop, things can get very messy without an appropriate plan in place.

The most common asset to force families into probate—the court procedure for distributing your assets when you die—is real estate. When a person owns real estate solely in their name when they die, their beneficiaries must go through a probate proceeding to transfer that property into their name when you pass away.

Benjamin Franklin tells an interesting and insightful story in his autobiography about a voyage he took from Boston back to England when he was a young man. At this time in his life, he was a vegetarian, but the crew of the ship on which he was traveling hauled in a large number of cod and prepared a significant feast, putting Franklin in a difficult positon

Everyone needs an estate plan, but people in second marriages especially need one. It is very common for us to meet with clients who are remarried and have children from a prior marriage. When this is the case, and they don’t have a proper estate plan set up, things can turn out drastically different when they die than what they imagined.

Although Coach Dale had a passion for planning in all other areas of his life, and he preached preparation to his players on the court and on the field, he fell into the trap that caught so many before him and will continue coaching folks long after he’s gone.

Retirement accounts, including IRAs and 401(k) funds, are often some of the largest assets our clients own. People typically have three main concerns when planning to pass their retirement funds on to the next generation.