Financial institutions and brokerage firms occasionally recommend that client accounts be structured as joint or beneficiary-designated accounts without full consideration of the impact on the ...

Love may fade, but beneficiary designations do not. That was the hard lesson learned in a legal dispute between a man’s estate and his ex-spouse ...

One of the biggest myths and misconceptions of estate planning is that a will controls the disposition of all one’s assets at death. This is not the case. Failing to distinguish the difference between ...

Beneficiary designations are among the most important legacy decisions you will make. A variety of financial accounts, including retirement plans and life insurance policies, allow you to designate ...

Wills and trust are often thought of as the main components of an estate plan – the documents that determine who will receive our assets at death. However, simple beneficiary designation forms, which ...

A variety of financial accounts, including retirement plans and life insurance, allow individuals to designate beneficiaries. Whoever is named on a beneficiary designation form will receive those ...

Most parties know the importance of saving original wills. They are executed with great formality, notarized, and regarded as the final work in distribution of property. What many, if not most, people ...

If you have an individual retirement account, do you recall filling out a beneficiary designation form? That’s the document that allows you to direct the IRA custodian to transfer your IRA to people ...

David F. Powell, professor, Florida State University School of Law, and Tye J. Klooster attorney, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, Chicago These are the sample trust form provisions referenced in the ...

Beneficiary forms trump last wills and testaments in court, so those with assets to pass on to heirs should regularly update them. Errors on the part of plan administrators can creep in when, for ...