You accepted the role of executor or trustee to honor someone you cared about. Now you face endless paperwork, hostile family members or complex legal issues. The stress keeps you up at night and you wonder if you can step away. The short answer is yes, but the...
When you are writing your estate plan, you may feel some pressure to find an equal distribution of your assets. You do not want any of your adult children or other beneficiaries to feel slighted. It is very common for adult children to assume their parents are going...
If you are about to make your first estate plan, you might not be inclined to tell others you are doing so. While you could make an estate plan without telling anyone else, it tends to be more effective when you do share some things with a select few others. Here are...
People creating estate plans typically need to address numerous challenging matters. They have to choose who inherits property and who administers their estate. They may even need to make careful plans to preserve their resources and optimize what their beneficiaries...
There are so many complex solutions to wealth distribution that sometimes some of the simplest answers get overlooked. Such may be the case of Totten trusts. Don't let the name fool you, as Totten trusts are regular bank accounts that have payable-on-death clauses...
Life has an uncanny way of reminding us that the unexpected can happen to anyone at any time. A sudden illness, a serious accident or even the natural effects of aging can leave someone unable to communicate or make decisions for themselves. The idea of being in a...
When people are doing their estate planning, they often discuss their life insurance policy. An elderly person may know that they have a substantial amount of life insurance, and they just want to make sure that it gets divided appropriately between their adult...
People establishing estate plans often choose their closest family members as their beneficiaries. They want to leave everything they own to spouses, children, grandchildren and other loved ones. Most people imagine that an inheritance will improve the life of a...
Many adults in the United States carry debt, which can include everything from secured debts like mortgages to unsecured debts like credit card balances. While some people think that debts die with the account holder, that’s not necessarily true. When someone dies...
Estate planning often involves earmarking assets for specific people. Estate administration involves either following state statutes or testamentary instruments while distributing the resources that belong to a recently-deceased individual. Some people die with heirs...
We are pleased to announce that on August 1, 2026, the attorneys and staff of the law firm of Courey, Kosanda & Zimmer, P.A (CKZ), will be joining the law firm of Barna Guzy & Steffen, Ltd. (BGS), located in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.
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