Estate Planning

A "Crummey" trust provides a way to take advantage of the gift tax exclusion while keeping the money in a trust until the child is old enough to handle it.

No parents want their children to fight among themselves after they are gone. Sadly, conflicts often arise, especially when a parent has gifted or loaned money to one child and not others.

When someone dies, they leave behind memories of them, and lots of other things as well. This book deals with those other things -- how to clear out an estate and avoid family squabbles over heirlooms.

While joint accounts can be useful in certain circumstances, they can have dire consequences if not used properly.

What would you do if both your parents asked you to assist them with their suicides within the same year? A decade after the fact, a son recounts how he fulfilled his parents' wishes.

Inheriting real estate from your parents is either a blessing or a burden -- or a little bit of both. Figuring out what to do with the property can be overwhelming, so it is good to carefully think through all...

A new AARP report shows how states can stem the "explosion" of financial exploitation cases involving the misuse of powers of attorney...

How can you ensure that your special needs child will remain well cared for and secure once others assume the role of guardian or caregiver?...

The estate tax gets all the press, but if you are leaving property to a grandchild, there is an additional tax you should know about. The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax is a tax on property that is passed from a grandparent...