Our Blog - Surety Matters

  By designating assets to non profit organizations, families can use wealth for social good. Estate planners explain charitable trusts, clarifying the difference between charitable remainder and lead trusts.   Charitable Trusts Are Irrevocable Charitable…
Read Moreabout Charitable Trust?

  Of course making proactive decisions about family assets and treasured belongings is challenging, but lawyers encourage as much specificity as possible when making a will. Reliance on “the kids” to work things out “later”…
Read Moreabout Making a Will? Be Specific

  Even amidst the painful lessons of the pandemic, most Americans still don’t have a will, and correspondingly, have not designated anyone to attend to their affairs upon death. Legal experts share insights to spark…
Read Moreabout Understand The Importance: Wills and Executors

  Big secrets withheld from close family members are difficult during life—and perhaps even more devastating upon death, when loved ones no longer have the hope of making peace with a surprising new reality. However,…
Read Moreabout Family Secrets and Estate Plans

Here’s a reality no one likes to talk about: when a loved one dies, as if working through grief is not enough, there’s a lot of other work to be done. In addition to the…
Read Moreabout Death In The Family? Practical Advice

  No one wants to think about living with Alzheimer’s. Sadly, a growing number of people and their families have no choice but to make big shifts in their lives, as they cope with the…
Read Moreabout Alzheimers? Consider a Trust

In Missouri the Circuit Court’s Probate Division oversees the distribution of assets after a death. If there is a will, assets are distributed accordingly, after debts are paid. If there is no will, Missouri’s intestacy…
Read Moreabout Missouri: Probate and Personal Representatives?

An Illinois probate court is trying to sort out who has the rights to the estate of outsider artist Henry Darger—and has so far found “lots of holes” in the court documents. When Darger, died…
Read Moreabout Lots of Holes: The Estate of Henry Darger

  Executing the will and affairs of a deceased loved one has always been challenging—and cyber crime is making it even more so.  Attention to digital accounts, assets and passwords is increasingly important, as is…
Read Moreabout Insights for Executors: Identity Protection