Will you or Won't You?
This legal document allows you to dictate how your assets are distributed after you pass away.
What is a will?
This type of trust can be changed or revoked during the grantor's lifetime.
What is a revocable trust?
A person who receives money or property from an estate or trust is called this.
What is a beneficiary?
Adding this type of designation to a bank account allows it to pass directly to a named beneficiary.
What is payable on death (POD)?
This document allows you to specify your medical treatment preferences in case you become incapacitated.
What is a living will?
If you die without a will, the state determines who inherits your assets through these laws.
What are intestacy laws?
Unlike a revocable trust, this type of trust cannot be changed once created.
What is an irrevocable trust?
A retirement account such as a 401(k) or IRA passes directly to this type of beneficiary, avoiding probate.
What is a designated beneficiary?
A home owned jointly by two spouses with this type of title avoids probate upon the first spouse’s death.
What is tenancy by the entirety?
Naming someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so requires this document.
What is a healthcare power of attorney (or healthcare proxy)?
A will must generally be signed in front of this many witnesses to be valid in most states.
What is two?
A trust established for a beneficiary with disabilities is commonly called this.
What is a special needs trust?
If a primary beneficiary dies before the account holder, the inheritance passes to this backup person.
What is a contingent beneficiary?
This type of deed allows property to transfer automatically upon death without going through probate.
What is a transfer-on-death deed?
This legally binding order, often used by terminally ill patients, instructs medical providers not to perform CPR.
What is a Do Not Resuscitate order (DNR)?
A handwritten will, also called this, may be legally valid in some states but not all.
What is a holographic will?
This type of trust is designed to hold life insurance proceeds outside of the taxable estate.
What is an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT)?
The law that governs how assets are distributed when a beneficiary predeceases the testator is known as this.
What is anti-lapse statute?
If an estate’s value falls below this legal threshold, probate may be avoided altogether through simplified proceedings.
What is a small estate affidavit?
This document lets you choose someone to make medical decisions for you if you can’t do it yourself.
What is a healthcare proxy (or medical power of attorney)?
This legal term refers to someone who has been left out of a will, sometimes accidentally.
What is a pretermitted heir?
This type of trust is commonly used to help someone qualify for Medicaid by protecting assets from being counted for eligibility.
What is a Medicaid trust?
If a will or trust does not specify what happens when a beneficiary predeceases the grantor, assets may be distributed according to one of these two legal distribution methods.
What are per stirpes and per capita?
This legal concept, recognized in some states, allows heirs to claim property outside probate by demonstrating rightful ownership over time.
What is adverse possession?
This legal document lets you decide whether you want life support if you are in a coma with no chance of recovery.
What is a living will?