Estate

Effective estate management enables you to manage your affairs during your lifetime and control the distribution of your wealth after death. An effective estate strategy can spell out your healthcare wishes and ensure that they're carried out – even if you are unable to communicate. It can even designate someone to manage your financial affairs should you be unable to do so.

Featured Video

When Special Care Is Needed: The Special Needs Trust

A special needs trust helps care for a special needs child when you’re gone.

4 Elements of an Estate Strategy

Learn about the importance of having an estate strategy in this helpful and informative video.

Will Power

Preparing for the eventual distribution of your assets may not sound enticing. But a will puts the power in your hands.

Estate Management 101

A will may be only one of the documents you need—and one factor to consider—when it comes to managing your estate.

• Articles

  Test Your Estate Strategy Knowledge

  Estate management can help ensure that your assets are transferred according to your wishes while managing tax issues.

  Problems with Probate

  Probate can be a completely public process, or it can be managed to include as little information as possible.

  Put It in a Letter

  A letter of instruction provides additional and more personal information regarding your estate.

  Understanding the Alternate Valuation Date

  Executors can value the estate on the date of death, or on its six-month anniversary —the “Alternate Valuation Date."

  Yours, Mine, and Ours: Estate Strategies for Second Marriage

  Second marriages are a trigger event to revisit any existing estate strategies.

  Intellectual Property and Your Estate

  Do you have intellectual property? Consider how you might include your IP into your estate strategy in this detailed article.

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• Calculators

  Comparing Mortgage Terms

  Compare different mortgage term lengths side by side to find the option that fits your budget.

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• Videos

  Charitable Giving: Smart from the Heart

  Do you have causes that you want to support with donations?

  Estate Management 101

  A will may be only one of the documents you need—and one factor to consider—when it comes to managing your estate.

  Safeguard Your Digital Estate

  If you died, what would happen to your email archives, social profiles and online accounts?

  When Special Care Is Needed: The Special Needs Trust

  A special needs trust helps care for a special needs child when you’re gone.

  4 Elements of an Estate Strategy

  Learn about the importance of having an estate strategy in this helpful and informative video.

  View all videos