What is joint ownership?

Joint ownership, sometimes referred to as joint tenancy, is another method used to avoid probate and can be done by titling accounts as held in “joint owners with rights of survivorship.” You can title almost any type of investment or bank account account or asset as “joint owners” to make sure the surviving joint owner immediately succeeds to the ownership of the account on the death of the first owner. However, there may be assets or situations that require a different approach, as discussed below.

A trust can be established either during a person’s life (a “Living Trust”) or at his or her death by being included in a person’s Will (a “Testamentary Trust”). Both types of trusts have the benefit of allowing the creator of the Trust (sometimes called the donor, grantor, or settlor) to put in place a

A trust can be a useful tool for various scenarios, but is not always necessary and is often oversold to increase attorney’s fees. So the question is: do you actually need a trust? Here are the three most common scenarios where a trust may make sense for you: To Avoid Probate on Out-of-State Property.

Death and money are likely among the top two things you don’t want to talk about around the dinner table. Yet you probably know very well that an estate planning conversation is something you should discuss with your family sooner rather than later. Otherwise, your survivors may misinterpret or fail to follow your intentions, which

Probate is the legal process that occurs after your death in order to settle your estate. The process can vary depending on your situation. For example, in Massachusetts there are four types of probate: (1) Voluntary Administration, (2) Informal Proceedings, (3) Formal Proceedings, and (4) Supervised Administration. While the exact steps vary depending on