The Elrod Firm

The Elrod Firm Articles

Insightful articles that provide further information related to estate planning and elder law.

Estate Planning

The Elephant in the Room: Bringing Up the Topic of Estate Planning

No one wants to think about their own death or the death of a loved one, much less make plans for it. However, an uncomfortable conversation now is well worth it when you consider the time, cost, and confusion incurred by those without an estate plan in place. Bringing up this conversation, though, can be difficult.

Asset Protection

Resolve to Update Your Estate Plan in the New Year

The beginning of the year is a great time to set goals for making improvements. Although eating healthy and working out are good resolutions to make, everyone should also resolve to make sure their estate plans are up-to-date

Estate Planning

You Need A Team

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.

Estate Planning

An Important Gift for your Children: Setting up your Estate Plan

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.

Asset Protection

A Gift or a Curse?

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.

Probate

A Not-So-Successful Business Transition

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.

Asset Protection

Out-of-state real estate? You need a plan.

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.

Estate Planning

Fishin’ for an Excuse

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

Asset Protection

Second Marriage? You need a plan.

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.

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