There are other options to the safe in the spare bedroom or den. Keeping your will in your safe deposit box at your bank is the option I usually recommend, so long as no one has access to the box who could benefit by a destruction of the will. I recommend that you drive immediately… Read More
Please don’t keep your will at home. A couple of recent cases have prompted me to revisit the answer to the question of where you should keep your will. A client died unexpectedly, only a few months after making his will. He had gone to great pains to make a will to protect his only… Read More
Taxation of Joint Accounts Jointly held property is very common, but its taxation is commonly misunderstood. On any joint account, the owner of the funds in the account is responsible for paying income tax on the account’s earnings. Which of the joint owners receives the 1099 from the payer is not dispositive of who should… Read More
Joint tenancy is a type of co-ownership under which if one co-owner dies, the surviving co-owner becomes the owner of the property at the moment of death. The property does not pass under the decedent’s will and does not pass through probate. But joint property can create many problems. If you take my advice, you’ll… Read More