Question: How do you find out if someone has a will? Response: You state your question in the present tense, asking if someone has a will rather than if they had one, meaning I presume that they [...]

Question: Trusts often include provisions similar to these: Governing law: This document is governed by the laws of [name of state]. Severability: If any part of this document is invalid or [...]

Question: What is the difference between a per stirpes and a per capita distribution of an estate? Response: It’s always confusing when lawyers or their documents use Latin words. You may [...]

Question: I am a U.S. citizen and have one adult child who has an English passport. I want to name him sole beneficiary of my estate which includes two single-family homes and money invested in [...]

Question: I don’t have a will yet but am planning to have one soon. My wife and teenage daughter live with me here in the United States. I have siblings who live overseas. I intend to leave [...]

Question: My sister wrote a will leaving everything to her manipulative boyfriend. She has a daughter and grandson. She says she made a trust for her daughter but I think she’s lying. She [...]

Question: Estate planning books often discuss digital assets such as email, photos, and other items. But there’s an important issue about digital assets that seems to be rarely mentioned. In a [...]

Question: So my mother is thinking of leaving her house in Texas and her house in Guatemala to me. What would be the best way for her to go about it? Should she set up a trust, or just a will [...]

Traditionally, estates have been passed down by per stirpes descent. More recently, many estate planners have been replacing this system with the per capita by each generation system approach. [...]

Question: We don’t own our house as “joint” tenants; we are co-owners and are listed on our loan papers as co-mortgagors. I’ve read that in Oregon persons who are [...]