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Horses may have become part of your family.  However, under the law, horses and other pets are property. The law considers your horses and other pets in the same category as assets, such as your house or automobile.  However, there are options to guarantee their care, according to Newsmax...

Sometimes it is best if your home does go through probate. Putting  your child's name on the deed of a home may avoid probate.  However, it is almost always a very bad idea because of the risks involved, according to My Prime Time News in "Deeds and Probate Avoidance."

Once you take the first couple of steps, if often becomes an easy process. You may only need a few documents to get your estate plan underway but people often delay because of the concern of complications, according to Forbes in "More Than Half of Americans Don't Have These Essential Estate ...

Information and education can go a long way in helping your children to use an inheritance wisely. Mistakes can be made by children who inherit money but lack the information on how to deal with it maturely and wisely, according to Nasdaq in "5 Things Your Kids Should Know Before They In...

Stepmothers take one of the top spots in wars over estates. However, they may not be at fault.

Funeral home director says it is standard practice to protect coffin from the cold. A family in Australia is suing a funeral home for swapping coffins from an expensive model to a less expensive one prior to transfer to a crematorium, according to Fox News in "Funeral Home swapped $1,700 coffin ...

Changes may create decrease in donations. Some of the changes in the new tax laws may mean that 21 million people will no longer take a charitable deduction on their taxes, according to Forbes in "21 Million Taxpayers Will Stop Taking Charitable Deductions Under the New Tax Law."

Significant changes mean it is a good time to meet with your attorney and to consider any new plans. The tax changes recently signed into law create a need to go to an estate planning attorney to make sure your estate plan is still optimal for you and your family. Forbes offered some suggestions...

It is important to plan, in case you are one of the people who will suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is a scary proposition and something everyone should consider as a possibility in their future, according to the Times Herald-Record...

You need to make the decision to create an estate plan and then you need to gather facts. In order to create an estate plan, you need to know what you need in order to organize your affairs, according to The Daily Courier in "I'm dead. Now What?"

Two institutions fought over rights to his journals, notes and letters. After a heated dispute, the Ransom Center matched Yale University's $2.7 million offer to archive Arthur Miller's work, according to The New York Times in "Inside the Battle for Arthur Miller's Archive."

You can go to North Korea.  However, the State Department has some advice. The State Department has recommended that American citizens get a will, make funeral plans and get a power of attorney before visiting North Korea, according to Fox News.

Perhaps this is the year that you will make an estate plan. A good New Year's resolution might be to finally get an estate plan, according to the Virginian-Pilot in "Make estate planning a priority this year."

As the elderly population grows, so does the number of scammers targeting them. There are all sorts of scams that target the elderly, ranging from large ones meant to make millions to very small scams meant to cheat an elderly person out of a few hundred dollars.

The entire staff of Shasta Legacy Law Center took the afternoon off yesterday to watch the Super Bowl.  What an exciting game that was! We also voted on best commercial. 

What should be done ahead of time, if family members do not get along? The issue of blended families and dealing with trust issues while estate planning, was recently discussed in a Market Watch advice column titled "My mother-in-law is deceitful -- can we stop her from stealing my wife'...

Even if your estate is small, you should consider a living trust. The probate process is very different, depending on your state of residency.

Just what does an estate plan give you and your family? Many people do not think carefully about the laws of intestate succession and how their assets would be distributed, so an estate plan can be really beneficial, according to an Investopedia article.

Without guidelines, the responsibilities of maintaining property by a life tenant can grow into big problems. Giving a person life tenant rights can be a good way to avoid some family conflicts and make sure that property stays in the family.  However, it can also create different conflicts,...

Challenging a will may be easy.  However, winning the suit isn't. When a will is written that results in granting what someone wants other than the testator, it is known as "undue influence."

Las Vegas killer leaves large estate, but fair compensation for the victims will be a challenge. Despite a hefty estate of $5 million left behind, it will be difficult to compensate the victims of Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock.

As the cost for caring for the elderly increases, the amount of inheritance decreases. In wealthy countries, the idea of leaving an inheritance is in jeopardy and may become a distant memory for middle class families.

Pensions used to be a main portion of the American benefits package, but times have changed. Many companies in the U.S. did away with pension plans for their employees in the 1970s and switched to 401(k) plans.

Powers of attorney obtained online can create issues because they contain boilerplate that might not work for everyone's unique situation.

The new tax law (2018) has enough big changes that you need to review your estate plan to make sure that you are taking advantage of the best options in the new environment. One of the key changes for estate planning purposes, is that the estate tax exemption has been doubled.