| Executors - Federal Estate-Tax Return |
| |
| An executor must complete and file Form 706 - United States Estate and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return - if the size of the estate exceeds a specified amount ($600,000 in 1997, increasing in steps to $1,000,000 in 2006). More... |
| |
| Transfer on Death Registration of Securities |
| |
| TOD or transfer on death registration of securities allows an investor to arrange for transfer of securities upon the investor's death without the necessity of having the securities go through probate. The executor or administrator of an estate does not have to take any action regarding specific securities that have TOD registration or even entire accounts that have been set up with TOD instructions.More... |
| |
| Trust Apportionment |
| |
| When a trustee receives a distribution, it can be difficult to determine whether he should pay it to the beneficiary or add it to the "corpus" (the trust property). More... |
| |
| Donating One's Body to Science |
| |
| A dead human body is usually disposed of by burial or cremation. One alternative that benefits people outside of the funeral industry is to donate one's dead body to science. Donation to science (also know as donation to medical science) is turning over a dead body to doctors, medical students, and/or other scientists for use in their studies. The charitable goal is the advancement of science. More... |
| |
| Probate -- Overview |
| |
| In a civilized society, a legal mechanism for dealing with a deceased person's property is essential. Think of the chaos that would result if, when someone died, the law allowed anyone free access to take all or any part of the deceased person's property on a "first come" basis. Instead, we have developed a system that protects and sometimes directs the distribution of property on a persons death. Our laws recognize that some order must be maintained in the situation and so they provide, among other things, for what is called the right of "freedom of testation" and a legal process to deal with those estates that have exercised that right, as well as those that have not.More... |
| |
