Our Blog - Surety Matters

Reducing worry, protecting loved ones, being prepared in case of our own incapacity…All of these are good reasons to make an estate plan when life is going well. Still, however, most of us procrastinate. Here…
Read Moreabout Procrastinating? Estate Plan Motivation

  Unlike the assets placed in a trust, the assets left to beneficiaries in a will must pass through the public process of probate before being distributed. Although the expediency and privacy trusts allow can…
Read Moreabout Why Do Wills Go Through Probate?

  After making a will, setting up a trust, or putting other care and estate plans in place, most people instinctively look to relations and close friends to serve as the fiduciaries who take on…
Read Moreabout When A Professional Fiduciary Makes Sense

  Sooner or later, regulators discover ERISA Bond failures, and in addition to penalties, audits and investigations can follow. Anyone, with any role in handling a company sponsored retirement plan, must, by law, have an…
Read Moreabout ERISA Bond: Are You Compliant?

  According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), the push for disclosing the fees associated with 401k plans over the past ten years is benefitting both participants and plan sponsors. Important work remains to…
Read Moreabout Progress: Plan Fee Transparency

  A survey of retiree spending habits conducted by the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) finds that just one in three retirees between the ages of 62 and 75 feels that they saved “just right”…
Read Moreabout Just Right: One In Three

  Not that long ago, retirement tended to be framed around the “absence” of commitment, as employees focused on freedom from the restrictions of the 9-5 work and commute day. Studies now point to a…
Read Moreabout Mindset Shift: Retirement?

Statistically Speaking Every adult should have an estate plan that attends to both their own needs in the event of a decline, and tends organizes asset distribution upon death. However, statistically speaking, it’s even more…
Read Moreabout Statistically Speaking

  Before invalidating a will because of claims of undue influence, probate courts must decide if actual coercion led to the decisions reflected in the will. Afterall, people help each other all the time. How…
Read Moreabout Wills: Coercion or Help?