Financial advisors and tax professionals seeking to help clients protect trust assets in the event of divorce, lawsuits or an extravagant heir should know the basics of a spendthrift clause.

Financial planner Barbara Bilello likens wealth management to a car, in which an estate plan is part of the body and investment or portfolio management is the engine, she said. "That engine is going ...

Most people should consider having one or more trusts in their estate plans. To make decisions about trusts you must be aware of trust terminology and basic concepts about the most common types of ...

Estate planning might sound like something that’s just for wealthy people with huge beach houses and billions in the bank. But the truth is that estate planning is something we all need to think about ...

Trusts are the invisible vaults where generational wealth quietly compounds away, shielded from taxes, protected from ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Matthew F. Erskine is a trusts and estates attorney. The proposed tax law changes, the pandemic, the threat of inflation and ...

The basics of trusts are easy to understand. Trusts are legal entities that allow one party to manage assets for the benefit of another. They involve three key roles: the grantor who establishes the ...

Recently I spoke to a group of very nice people at a church. Fortunately for me, and for the people I spoke to, most of my discussion was answering their estate planning questions. Although I was ...

If you’ve already started your estate planning, congratulations — you’re ahead of the curve and protecting what matters most! As of 2025, only about 24% of American adults have a will or estate plan, ...