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.

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Wills, Trusts and Probate Law Articles

Shanghai Bound: New Regulations Seek to Attract Regional HQs

On July 20 2002, the Shanghai municipal government issued the Encouragement for Foreign Multinational Companies Establishing Regional Headquarters Tentative Provisions (the Tentative Provisions). With their issuance, Shanghai seeks to make itself ...
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Should I Have a Living Trust?

A Living Trust will allow you to transfer more of your property to your loved ones than you otherwise could. A will must go through probate. This will be costly and time consuming. In addition, a will provides you with no control should you become ...
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Should You Consider a Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT)?

The Qualified Personal Residence Trust ("QPRT") represents an increasingly popular and effective planning technique for reducing the size of a person's taxable estate. By implementing a QPRT, you can transfer your home to your children at a greatly ...
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Simplified Rules For Taxation Of Preneed Trusts

Introduction Is it possible that the Internal Revenue Service is helping you? Making something easier? The IRS has provided some relief to the trusts established by funeral homes and cemeteries when they sell preneed merchandise and services. Now ...
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So, Why Don’t You have a Will?; (There’s no Good Reason)

Something about wills must scare people. Some years ago, a legal publisher noted that only 27% of the population had signed wills. The article then speculated on the reasons, finally attributing the failure of most people to have wills to a mix of ...
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So, You Have a Trust, Now What? Fund It, Fund It, Fund It!

You've wisely decided to create a trust. You have provided for control of your property during your lifetime, in the event of disability, and after death. One of the great advantages to having a trust is avoiding probate. However, all of the ...
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Sovereign Wealth, Private Equity, and Hedge Funds … Oh My

Americans have long exhibited a suspicion of concentrated pools of capital controlled by small groups of people. During convulsive economic times, with little understanding as to the causes and great fear as to the effects of the turmoil, we have ...
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Special Needs Trusts: A Planning Tool with Promise

As advances in medical technology are made available to the average American, and as public benefit eligibility law becomes more complicated, it should come as no surprise that legal planning tools are evolving to enable disabled or older ...
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Strangi III Gives New Guidelines for Using Family Limited Partnerships as a Valuation Discount Tool

For some time, family limited partnerships (FLP's) have been a vital instrument for managing and transferring family wealth. Recently, however, the IRS has been attacking their use as a discount valuation tool. In 2003, the case of Estate of Strangi ...
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Summary Of Proposed Pennsylvania Investment Bill September 2000 Draft

The September 2000 draft of the proposed bill entitled the Local Government Investment Reform Act was generated by the Bipartisan Task Force on School and Municipal Investments. This draft differs from the March 1999 draft in the following principal ...
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