Wills, Trusts and Probate Law

Probate attorneys handling wills, trusts, and estate administration must typically advise their clients on matters such as beneficiary designation, how to form a life estate in property, what will happen to property if your client fails to make an estate plan, and more. FindLaw’s Corporate Counsel Center Law Library has law articles written to help you better understand specific estate planning techniques and when to consider forming a trust on your client’s behalf. If your client needs a living will or an advance health care directive, click on the articles below to help inform your research and learn the requirements of each state, such as the number of witnesses necessary and who can be designated as a health care surrogate.

Law Library

Wills, Trusts and Probate Law Articles

REITs & Income Trusts

Contrary to conventional wisdom, initial public offerings (IPOs) are thriving. It's a question of definition. The genre has expanded. The IPO designation, traditionally associated with first-time public offerings by private companies seeking stock ...
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Reporting and Substantiation Requirements Increase for Charitable Contributions

With passage of the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993 (the "Act"), the burden for charitable organizations to report and substantiate charitable gifts has increased in two significant respects. First, a donor taxpayer must obtain a written ...
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Retirement Plans and Trusts

If you have investments with tax-deferral features, such as conventional Individual Retirement Accounts, 401(k) Plans, Defined Benefit Retirement Plans, or other qualified plans, from which your withdrawals are in whole or in part subject to income ...
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Revocable Living Trust

For many people, the basis of proper estate planning is a revocable living trust that contains your special instructions for your own care and that of your loved ones. It allows you to give what you have to whom you want, the way you want and when ...
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Revocable Living Trusts

A trust is an agreement that determines how a person's property is to be managed and distributed during his or her lifetime and also upon death. A revocable living trust normally involves three parties: The Grantor - This is the person who creates ...
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Revocable Trusts

A revocable trust enables you to designate either yourself, another person or a professional (such as a bank or other financial institution) as your Trustee. The person named, normally has a responsibility to review your investments, make ...
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Roth IRA’s

The basic concept behind the Roth IRA is that contributions are not deductible; however "qualified distributions" are tax free. In other words, by forgoing an income tax deduction now, all future earnings will be received income tax free, provided ...
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Selected Estate Tax Provisions of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 ("TRA 97" or the "Act") has been the subject of numerous commentaries. Some tax reporters have noted the complexity of the new Act (e.g., from Richard W. Stevenson in the October 26, 1997 issue of The New York Times ...
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Self-directed Investment Options in 401(k) Plans: Legal and Fiduciary Issues

As an extension of the continuing trend toward expanded participant investment options in 401(k) and other defined contribution retirement plans, investment providers are marketing an option that provides participants access to brokerage accounts ...
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Self-Proving Wills

Many readers have recently written to our office inquiring as to whether or not a person need change his Will after having moved here from another State. One reader, specifically, wrote: "my wife and I had a Will drawn in Queens, New York. We now ...
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