Our Blog - Surety Matters

  The American Society of Civil Engineers reports that the $550 billion allocated in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is preventing our infrastructure from deteriorating. However, without sustained funding efforts at the national,…
Read Moreabout Good News+Bad News=More Work Ahead

  Adding adult children to accounts (aka “joint tenancy”) is one way to allow assets to pass on to them expediently, without going through the public process of probate, upon your death. Joint tenancy is…
Read Moreabout Joint Accounts and Probate?

  Revocable trusts are the most common type of trust. Setting up a revocable trust is relatively easy, allows for flexibility and helps with a number of estate planning goals. Part of the appeal, as…
Read Moreabout Why Are Revocable Trusts So Handy?

  Expert legal help is a good idea during estate planning, while navigating probate as a personal representative, or when serving as a trustee. Here are examples of the legal processes attorneys can guide you…
Read Moreabout Getting Help: Estate, Probate and Trust Administration

  Just as the title expresses, the role of executor is to carry out the intentions of the testator (aka person creating a will), so generally, executors do not volunteer their own discretion while fulfilling…
Read Moreabout Should The Executor of a Will Use Discretion?

  Given the investment involved in finding, onboarding and retaining excellent employees, “one and done” interviews (“OK, start tomorrow”) are not the way to go, even if you are desperate and the candidate seems terrific….
Read Moreabout You’re Hired! Oops…

  What now? How dare they! All business leaders have the experience of unexpectedly getting slammed with an unexpectedly critical, and even nasty, email. What to do? Take a breath, walk away, and think carefully…
Read Moreabout Scathing Email?

  If you’ve made an estate plan, good for you: you’re ahead of many people in gifting your family (and yourself) with peace of mind. However, keep in mind, estate planning is not a “once…
Read Moreabout Updating Estate Plans: A Checklist

  Under the eyes of the law, trusts are separate and unique entities, and this is why they are incredibly useful estate planning tools. Trusts can be set up to accomplish a variety of goals….
Read Moreabout Trusts: Separate and Unique Entities