A father named his son the beneficiary on his IRA, which was worth roughly $100,000. According to the Huffington Post, the son, who was 53 at the time of his father’s death, chose to receive the minimum distributions out of the Roth every year instead of taking the lump sum. As a result, the policy continued to grow over the years. As an added bonus, the distributions were not subject to taxes because the account was a Roth IRA. The people who set up the IRA may not be able to control how … [Read more...]

More than 40 years ago, a woman purchased a policy from a funeral home that intended to cover the expenses of her burial. According to the American Association of Retired Persons, the woman died in 2008. Unaware of the prepaid policy, her children paid the same funeral home more than $8,000 for the costs associated with the service. Upon finding the policy later, the children asked the funeral director to refund the costs, which he initially denied. While the woman’s children initially … [Read more...]

When their parents died, four children inherited the couple’s home. However, More magazine reports that outside of the property itself, there were few details given about how the siblings would divide the remaining assets and items. As a result, the children, all grown adults, wound up arguing about everything from wedding china to how, or whether or not, to sell the house. One of the children, a 42-year-old woman, said they were forced to make very tense decisions that pitted them against … [Read more...]

Many people want to ensure that after their death, children or survivors will not suffer financially. However, according to a LexisNexis report, more than half of American adults do not have a will in place, which can lead to a lengthy and complicated probate process. There are a number of ways to set up financial plans to prevent family members from a messy court battle. When doing their estate planning, people in Illinois should consider a testamentary trust as a reliable option. … [Read more...]

In 1998, a Philadelphia couple took a trip to Long Island and decided to buy a winery. According to The Wall Street Journal, they dove head-first into wine-making and were largely successful. Their children were not involved in the business, which did not pose a problem until the end of June, when both parents died within a week of each other. The couple had not put together a plan of succession for the family-run business, and the children say they have not decided whether or not to sell the … [Read more...]