Most people assume an estate plan drafted correctly once stays correct forever, even after a cross-country move. Unfortunately, the reality is much more complicated, and a simple change of address can sometimes derail your wishes for the future.
Missouri has strengthened the protections available through Qualified Spousal Trusts (QSTs). These joint revocable trusts allow married couples to combine their estate planning into a single document, preserve creditor protections similar to tenancy by the entirety, and avoid probate. Recent legislative amendments expand these protections, offering greater security for surviving spouses and clarifying questions raised by earlier court decisions.
It starts like any other day. You’re answering emails, pouring your morning coffee, maybe even thinking about dinner later… and then the phone rings with a message you hoped to never hear. A loved one is unconscious and has been rushed to the hospital. Your adrenaline spikes, and you drop everything and go. But without powers of attorney, you’re not a worried spouse, parent, or partner. You’re just a bystander.
Most estate plans now involve revocable trusts of every kind and description with the goal to avoid probate in the estate plan. Although trusts have many other benefits, probate avoidance is the touchstone of revocable trusts. When creating a trust, attorneys and their clients concentrate on the details of the estate plan and then the documents. But what about how the trust will be funded?
It is just an average day, nothing seems out of place, until…the phone rings. It is the phone call that you never want to receive but dread receiving every day.
Traditional estate planning is daunting enough for the average individual, family, or small business owner, but now there is an additional curveball to deal with: cryptocurrency.
Estate planning is the process of making advance arrangements regarding your assets if you become incapacitated and determining asset distribution upon your death. It sounds simple, but many misconceptions about estate planning exist.
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