Setting up a special needs trust in Indiana could potentially help your loved ones maintain their standard of living and manage their spending. In some cases, the process is relatively straightforward. In others, you may need to deal with complex legal issues at the state and federal level. 

As we approach the end of the year, it’s a good reminder to you and your clients to make sure the Required Minimum Distribution is taken from IRAs when necessary.  

John Wilson has been named the 2019 recipient of the IndyBar Estate Planning & Administration Section’s Patricia Paxton Wagner Award for Excellence in Estate Planning and Administration. This award is bestowed annually by the section on a discretionary basis to an estate planning professional selected by the section’s executive committee. Recipients are noted as having “extraordinary efforts and positive achievements” in one or more of four categories relating to estate planning and administration law by the committee.

With a variety of factors playing a part in wealth planning, can you share the most underrated, but highly important aspect, which enables clients to devise an efficient wealth management plan?

Low-income individuals are more likely to die younger and without wills or advance directives in place — but you can help! Attorneys, paralegals and law students are needed as volunteers to do intake, conduct private legal consultations with qualified applicants, draft paperwork and witness document signing during the upcoming Free Wills Clinic.

Effective July 1, 2019, the requirements for contents of petitions for appointment of a guardian codified in Indiana Code 29-3-5-1 have expanded to include new subsection (a)(11).

With the new addition of Section 30-4-8 to the Indiana Code, settlors of Indiana Legacy Trusts can now be provided spendthrift creditor protections while the trust assets continue to benefit the settlor. 

The Supreme Court of Indiana recently issued an opinion that affects court handling of petitions to appoint special administrators. Effective immediately, upon filing of a petition for appointment of a special administrator, or of an administrator or personal representative for certain limited purposes, such as to pursue a wrongful death claim, your Marion County Probate Court will do the following.

Not many estates have the financial magnitude and headline-grabbing storylines of rock and roll legend Prince Rogers Nelson’s estate. Yet, in some pretty simple respects, Prince’s estate is not so different than many other estates that estate planners deal with annually.  

Raising any child is expensive, but when you’re raising a child who has special needs, there are additional financial responsibilities to consider. The cost of doctor’s visits, therapy appointments, medication and special equipment add up. The amount of time needed to provide care may restrict you or your partner from working outside the home — or even at all.