2025-01-14 by Sue Hunt
Getting married is such an exciting time! Between the beautiful wedding, fun reception, and romantic honeymoon, there's a lot to celebrate. But it's also the perfect time to think about your future together and plan for the unexpected.
Estate planning might not be the first thing on your mind, but it's essential for everyone—whether you're young or old, married or single. It gives you peace of mind knowing that you and your loved ones are protected against life's surprises. Unfortunately, many couples spend more time planning their honeymoon than thinking about how to protect each other through estate planning.
Without an estate plan, things can get complicated if you become unable to manage your affairs due to illness or injury, or if you pass away. Here are some potential issues:
If you pass away without an estate plan, your spouse and loved ones will face additional challenges:
What Should You Do?
We invite you and your new spouse to call our office at 336-373-9877 to set up a meeting. We'll guide you through protecting each other, your loved ones, your pets, and your hard-earned assets. Let's make things easier for you and your families.
We look forward to hearing from you!
2025-02-04 by Sue Hunt
Valentine's Day spending totaled nearly $26 billion in 2024, including an all-time high of $6.4 billion spent on jewelry.[1] Yet many Americans report feeling disappointed that their partner did not do enough to celebrate Valentine's Day.[2]
More than 40 percent of US adults say they feel stressed about finding the perfect gift for loved ones.[3] About one-third plan to give a gift of experience this year instead of material possessions, marking a consumer shift toward gifts that are seen as more experiential and personalized than material items.[4]
While the gift of a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust may not be the most romantic Valentine's Day gesture, it could prove to be more thoughtful, caring, and valuable than an off-the-shelf purchase.
What Is a QTIP Trust?
A QTIP trust is an irrevocable trust for married couples that offers a tax advantage for the trustmaker (the spouse who creates the trust) and financial security for the surviving spouse while preserving wealth for future generations. Here is how it works:
What Makes a QTIP Trust Different?
There are as many different types of trusts as there are flavors in a box of Valentine's Day chocolates. In a way that sets them apart from other trusts, QTIPs offer a unique balance between providing for a surviving spouse and maintaining trustmaker control over the trust's assets.
Customizing a QTIP Trust
One of the strengths of a QTIP trust lies in its flexibility. Some ways to customize a QTIP include the following:
Distributions of Principal
The trustmaker has almost unlimited leeway to dictate when and how the trustee can distribute principal to their spouse. For example, they can limit access to the principal for only health, education, maintenance, or support expenses (i.e., the HEMS standard). They can also give the trustee sole discretionary authority to distribute principal based on the spouse's needs. They can even prohibit spousal access to the principal altogether to preserve assets for remainder beneficiaries.
Spousal Control
Although the trustmaker has the final say on the ultimate distribution of assets when the surviving spouse passes, they can give the surviving spouse some degree of control using strategies such as a testamentary limited power of appointment,which lets the surviving spouse choose how the remaining trust assets are distributed upon their death among a defined group of beneficiaries predetermined by the trustmaker (e.g., children, grandchildren, other family members).
Why Use a QTIP Trust?
A QTIP trust can be an effective estate planning tool if you want to provide for your spouse after your death but ultimately limit the spouse's control over your assets and have your assets pass to different beneficiaries.
This arrangement may prove useful when you have children from a previous marriage, your spouse does not manage money wisely or has creditor issues, or there is some other unique family dynamic. A QTIP trust can also be part of a business succession strategy that ensures your spouse has an income stream from the business without being involved in running it.
This Valentine's Day, instead of the customary candy, cards, flowers, and jewelry, consider showing your love with the gift of a QTIP trust that lasts a lifetime—and, in many cases, even longer. Call our office at 336-373-9877 to schedule an appointment.
[1] Valentine's Day Shopping Statistics, CapitalOne Shopping (Dec. 18, 2024), https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/valentines-day-shopping-statistics/.
[2] Have you ever felt disappointed by a romantic partner not doing enough on Valentine's Day? YouGov (Jan. 18, 2021), https://today.yougov.com/topics/entertainment/survey-results/daily/2021/01/18/0f873/2.
[3] Niranjana Rajalakshmi, Why you're so stressed out about finding the perfect Valentine's Day gift, News, The Univ. of Arizona (Feb. 7, 2024), https://news.arizona.edu/news/why-youre-so-stressed-out-about-finding-perfect-valentines-day-gift.
[4] Consumers Plan to Increase Valentine's Day Spending to Nearly $26 Billion, Nat'l Retail Fed. (Jan. 24, 2024), https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/consumers-plan-increase-valentines-day-spending-nearly-26-billion.
2024-04-08 by Sue Hunt
As a parent, you are responsible for the care of your minor child. In most circumstances, this means getting them up for school, making sure they are fed, and providing for other basic needs. However, what would happen if you and your child's other parent were unable to care for them?
It is important to note that if something were to happen to you, your child's other parent is most likely going to have full authority and custody of your child, unless there is some other reason why they would not have this authority. So in most cases, estate planning is going to help develop a plan for protecting your child in the event that neither parent is able to care for them.
What If You Die?
When it comes to planning for the unexpected, many parents are familiar with the concept of naming a guardian to take care of their minor children in the event both parents die. This is an important step toward ensuring that your child's future is secure.
Without an Estate Plan
If you and your child's other parent die without officially nominating a guardian to care for your child, a judge will have to make a guardianship decision. The judge will refer to state law, which will provide a list of people in order of priority who can be named as the child's guardian—usually family members. The judge will then have a short period of time to gather information and determine who will be entrusted to raise your child. Due to the time constraints and limited information, it is impossible for the judge to understand all of the nuances of your family circumstances. However, the judge will have to choose someone based on their best judgment. In the end, the judge may end up choosing someone you would never have wanted to raise your child to act as your child's guardian until they are 18 years old.
With an Estate Plan
By proactively planning, you can take back control and nominate the person you want to raise your child in the event you and the child's other parent are unable to care for them. Although you are only able to make a nomination, your choice can hold a great deal of weight when the judge has to decide on an appropriate guardian. The most common place for parents to make this nomination is in their last will and testament. This document becomes effective at your death and also explains your wishes about what will happen to your accounts and property. Depending on your state law, there may be another way to nominate a guardian. Some states recognize a separate document in which you can nominate a guardian, and that document is then referenced in your will. Some people prefer this approach because it is easier to change the separate document as opposed to changing your will if you want to choose a different guardian or backup guardians.
What If You Are Alive but Cannot Manage Your Own Affairs?
Although most of the emphasis is on naming a guardian for when both parents are dead, there may be instances in which you need someone to have the authority to make decisions for your child while you are alive but unable to make them yourself.
Without an Estate Plan
Not having an incapacity plan in place that includes guardianship nominations means that a judge will have to make this judgment call on their own with no input from you (similar to the determination of a guardian if you die without a plan in place).
With an Estate Plan
A comprehensive estate plan can also include a nomination of a guardian in the event you and the child's other parent are incapacitated (unable to manage your own affairs). Although you are technically alive, if you cannot manage your own affairs, there is no way that you will be able to care for your minor child. This is another reason why having a separate document for nominating a guardian (as described above) may be preferable to nominating guardians directly in a last will and testament. Because a last will and testament is only effective at your death, a nomination for a guardian in your will may not be effective when you are still living. However, a nomination in a separate document that anticipates the possibility that you may be alive and unable to care for your child can provide great assistance to the judge when evaluating a guardian. Depending on the nature of your incapacity, this guardian may only be needed temporarily, with you assuming full responsibility for your child upon regaining the ability to make decisions for yourself.
What If You Are Just Out of Town?
Sometimes, you travel without your child and will have to leave them in the care of someone temporarily. While you of course hope that nothing will go wrong while you are away, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Without an Estate Plan
Without the proper documentation, there may be delays in caring for your child if your child were to get hurt or need permission for a school event while you are out of town. The hospital or school may try to reach you by phone in order to get your permission to treat them or allow them to attend a school event. Depending on the nature of your trip, getting a hold of you may not be easy (e.g., if you are on a cruise ship with little access to phone or email). Ultimately, your child will likely be treated medically, but the chosen caregiver may encounter additional roadblocks trying to obtain medical services for your child, and they may not be able to make critical medical decisions when needed.
With an Estate Plan
Most states recognize a document that allows you to delegate your authority to make decisions on behalf of your child to another person during your lifetime. You still maintain the ability to make decisions for your child, but you empower another person to have this authority in the event you are out of town or cannot get to the hospital immediately. This document allows your chosen caregiver to make most decisions on behalf of your child, except for consenting to the adoption or marriage of your child. The name of this document will vary depending on your state and is usually effective for six months to a year, subject to state law. Because this document is only effective for a certain period of time, it is important that you touch base with us to have new documents prepared so that your child is always protected.
We Are Here to Protect You and Your Children
Being a parent is a full-time job. We want to make sure that regardless of what life throws at you, you and your child are cared for. Give us a call to learn more about how we can ensure that the right people are making decisions for your child when you cannot.
2025-02-04 by Sue Hunt
A home is often one of the most important assets that people own. Therefore, most people want to stay in their home until they die and then have a loved one receive it. One common way to pass a home to loved ones is through a will. However, transferring property with a will requires probate, which is generally considered a lengthy, costly, and public court process that many actively seek to avoid.
There are several ways an estate plan can transfer property without a will or probate court involvement when the owner passes away. In addition to a lifetime transfer of the property (by sale or gift), certain types of deeds can be used that take effect only upon the property owner's death and do not subject the property to probate. However, using these deeds for probate avoidance can potentially introduce new issues. A trust-based estate plan may be a better option if the goal is simply to avoid probate.
Home Ownership and Inheritance
We are living through one of the largest intergenerational wealth transfers in history. Roughly one in six Americans expect to receive an inheritance in the next 10 years, and among those, nearly half anticipate inheriting property such as a house.[1]
According to Pew Research, in 2021, nearly two-thirds of US households lived in a home they owned as their primary residence.[2] Homeowners have, on average, around $174,000 in equity in their homes—more than double the value of their next most valuable asset, retirement accounts, which have an average value of $76,000.[3]
Real Property, Legal Rights, and Trusts
A key concept in estate planning is honoring people's wishes by helping them control, as much as possible, what they own and what happens to it after their death.
An estate plan enables a homeowner to decide what happens to their property after they pass away, ensuring that it goes to the person (or people) they choose in a manner of their choosing, whether that means keeping it in the family and setting limits on its use or transferring the property to a beneficiary without restrictions.
Options for Transferring Real Property at Your Death
Estate planning is highly flexible, offering multiple ways to satisfy someone's wishes for what happens to their money and property when they die, each with a mix of benefits and downsides.
To avoid probate, there are many ways to transfer real property, both during the owner's lifetime and at their death. Some solutions can cost less than a trust, but as the examples below show, they can also have significant downsides and risks.
Deed-Based Transfers
A deed is a legal document that transfers real estate ownership from the current owner (the grantor) to another individual or entity (the grantee). Several types of deeds can be used to gift real property at the grantor's death. They include the following:
Again, not all of these types of deeds are legally valid in all states. An experienced estate planning attorney can explain what tools are available to you and discuss the benefits and potential risks.
Downsides to Using a Deed to Transfer Property at Your Death
There is no creditor protection for your beneficiaries. When a deed transfers property to a beneficiary, that property goes to the beneficiary outright. There are no strings attached and no protections. For instance, if the beneficiary were to receive the property during a bankruptcy proceeding, it might be used to satisfy the creditors because it is now considered the beneficiary's property.
There is no protection if the beneficiary is disabled or unable to manage their affairs. As previously mentioned, when the beneficiary receives the property, it is theirs. However, if they receive the property when they cannot manage their affairs, its management falls to another person. It may be handled by a court-appointed guardian or conservator or an agent under a financial power of attorney, who can do whatever they want with it (as long as it is in the incapacitated beneficiary's best interest). Also, if the beneficiary receives any means-based assistance, the sudden inheritance could jeopardize those benefits by placing the beneficiary above any applicable asset threshold.
There are no protections for you if you cannot manage your affairs. These deeds are a sufficient way to transfer property after you are deceased. However, if you cannot manage your affairs during your lifetime, the named beneficiary or remainderman has no access to or interest in the property to help you manage it until you pass away. You will have to rely on an agent under a financial power of attorney (if you have one) or a court-appointed guardian or conservator to manage the property on your behalf.
Your beneficiary is free to do what they want. As already discussed, if you use a deed to transfer ownership at your death, your beneficiary will receive the property outright. You cannot add any conditions or requirements regarding the property or its use. The beneficiary can sell, mortgage, or use it as a rental property (subject to applicable zoning restrictions). It is their property to do with as they please. Their intended use of the property may not align with your wishes.
Using a Trust to Transfer Real Property
While you may view your home as a place to live and not as an investment or financial vehicle, that perception can change when you pass away and the home passes to a loved one, particularly if that loved one already has a primary residence.
A beneficiary who inherits a home may decide to sell the property; turn it into a rental; renovate the property to use it as a farm or business; sell off individual structures on the property (such as a barn or historic structure); cash in on its natural resources (e.g., allow timber to be harvested); or even tear down the original home and build a new one in its place. When more than one beneficiary inherits the property, disagreements about how to best use it could arise.
You might not care what happens to your home when you are gone. However, if you want to set restrictions on its use for any reason—whether those reasons are sentimental or have the practical intent of reducing conflicts among multiple beneficiaries—you must use the right estate planning tool.
Consider placing your home in a living trust that legally owns the property, with you serving as a trustee and being the current beneficiary during your lifetime. This allows you to stay in your home—and maintain control over it—while you are alive. When you pass away, the home does not go through probate because you do not technically own it. Instead, a successor trustee assumes legal responsibility for the property and manages it or gives it away in accordance with your trust's terms.
The trust terms can be highly detailed, and limitations can be set on how the property can be used. You can stipulate, for example, that the property must be shared as a family vacation home and cannot be used for business purposes. You can require that the house be held in the trust until your minor children reach a certain age so they can remain in the home after your passing. While the trust owns the property, your terms will govern its use. As soon as the property is distributed from the trust, you lose all control over it.
The Best Way to Transfer Property for Every Situation
Estate planning is a highly personal process that must consider many factors, each of which can have multiple solutions that present a unique set of benefits and drawbacks.
Avoiding probate is usually just one estate planning consideration among many, and it may not be desirable in every situation.
Determining the best way to pass down real property at death depends on your preferences and family circumstances. An estate planning attorney can explain each available option and help you decide what is best for your situation.
[1] The "Great Wealth Transfer" is underway but nearly half expecting an inheritance are not ready to manage it, finds New York Life Wealth Watch Survey, New York Life, July 19, 2023, https://www.newyorklife.com/newsroom/2023/new-york-life-wealth-watch-great-wealth-transfer.
[2] Rakesh Kochhar and Mohamad Moslimani, 4. The assets households own and the debts they carry, Pew Research Center, Dec. 4, 2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/2023/12/04/the-assets-households-own-and-the-debts-they-carry.
[3] Id.
by Julia Walker
Well, that doesn’t seem right.
It usually starts with something small. A strange email from a bank you do not recognize. A new credit card account you do not remember opening. A password reset link you never requested. A notice from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that someone has already filed a tax return in your name.
At first there is confusion. No, there’s no way that’s right.
Then anxiety sets in. Am I being scammed?
After that, you may spend hours or days on the phone with banks, credit bureaus, and government agencies to reach an unsettling conclusion: Someone has my information and is pretending to be me.
Next comes anger, frustration, and a sense of violation. How could this happen?
Acceptance eventually sets in, along with a determination to never let scammers get the upper hand again. But sometimes it is too late. The damage has been done—to finances, reputation, peace of mind, and, sometimes, legacy.
Preventing cybercrimes such as identity theft starts with awareness, including the recognition that cybersecurity is not just an IT problem or something that affects businesses. It is a personal wealth preservation issue that can affect you not only now but also after you are gone, making it crucial to strengthen your digital defenses long before your estate reaches administration.
Scammers routinely target estates, executors, and grieving families, often by mining obituaries and public probate records to launch phishing, impersonation, and identity-theft schemes.
Growing Cyberthreats and Their Impact on Estate Planning
You may have started to take the first steps toward creating a digital estate plan, but that planning should also account for the growing risks that cybercriminals pose to both your assets and your legacy.
● Seventy-three percent of US adults have experienced some form of online scam or cyberattack. Most report weekly scam calls, text, and emails.[1]
● Americans reported 2.6 million fraud cases and 1.1 million identity-theft incidents to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2024. Losses exceeded $12.5 billion, a 25 percent increase over the prior year.[2]
● Identity theft is now one of the most common types of consumer fraud, with nearly 750,000 cases in the first half of 2025 alone.[3]
● Seventy-six percent of consumers say they feel more anxious about cybersecurity today than they did two years ago, driven by impersonation enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) and increasingly sophisticated scams.[4]
Cybercriminals now use AI-generated voice clones to impersonate loved ones, breached financial and medical data to answer security questions, and automated scraping of public records to target people with unnerving precision. You will very likely be targeted at some point and may have already been a victim of cybercrime. Even if you avoid direct harm during your lifetime, your estate and heirs may be more vulnerable after your death.
Why Estates Can Be Vulnerable to Cybercriminals
The FBI reports that in 2024, Americans over age 60 were the most frequently targeted demographic for online scams and fraud and lost the most money to cybercrimes.[5]
Fraud schemes targeting the estates of people who have passed away are another area of growing cybercrime concern.[6] As with older adults, estates, particularly those of seniors, are often perceived as holding substantial assets. The individuals and property involved with estate administration can also create unique vulnerabilities that attract cybercriminals.
● The loved ones left behind are often overwhelmed and distracted after a loved one’s death, making them more susceptible to scams. Cybercriminals use times of chaos, confusion, and heightened emotion to their advantage, preying on feelings such as fear, urgency, and trust during times when people may let their guard down.
● Executors may be unfamiliar with digital security, making phishing attempts more successful.
● Multiple parties (attorneys, advisors, banks, beneficiaries) are exchanging sensitive documents during estate administration, sometimes through unsecured or informal methods.
● The deceased person’s dormant accounts are often easy entry points for identity theft because they often go unmonitored, rely on outdated passwords, and may be tied to personal information that criminals can exploit before anyone realizes that there is a problem.
● Scammers routinely impersonate banks, government agencies, attorneys, or even the executor.
● Probate is public, giving criminals a ready-made list of heirs, contact information, and sometimes asset details.
Social engineering attacks—scams that use deception rather than technical hacking—that rely on sophisticated cybertools such as AI to exploit basic human psychology and manipulate people are on the rise.[7] And just as cybercriminals capitalize on natural disasters[8] and tech outages,[9] the estate administration process is a scenario that could provide the perfect opening for fraud and deception.
A Digital Defense Plan for Your Estate
You would not leave your physical property unsecured, but without a digital defense plan, you are essentially leaving the front door unlocked to cyberthieves, compromising your traditional and digital assets. Understanding points of vulnerability and taking a few simple precautions can help reduce your exposure to cybercrimes.
Issue: Email is the weakest link. Most cyberattacks begin with email.
● What you can do: Use strong passwords, multifactor authentication (MFA), and encrypted document-sharing platforms. Avoid sending unprotected sensitive materials, and encourage your executors to follow the same security practices when administering your estate.
Issue: Executors cannot secure what they cannot see. Unknown or dormant accounts often remain open and unmonitored, making them prime targets for takeover and identity theft.
● What you can do: Create a detailed inventory of important digital accounts and storage locations. Ensure that fiduciaries (such as your executors and advisors) know what accounts must be closed, monitored, or secured.
Issue: Sensitive legal and tax documents are insecurely stored or shared. Wills, statements, and tax documents often sit unprotected in inboxes or cloud folders.
● What you can do: Store documents securely using online encrypted folders or password-protected vaults, and ensure that fiduciaries know where to find documents and how to access them.
Issue: Executors may not be prepared for digital threats. Phishing attempts surge during estate administration, and many executors are unfamiliar with digital-security practices.
● What you can do: Name a tech-literate executor (or coexecutor) who is comfortable managing digital accounts and security protocols. Include with your estate planning documents a brief “executor security checklist” that outlines verification steps (such as confirming account ownership and access authority) and highlights common red flags, such as urgent payment requests, unexpected account changes, or requests for credentials.
Issue: Probate exposes personal information. Public probate court filings often disclose the names and contact information of executors and beneficiaries and may even include a list of assets with their values—information that scammers can easily weaponize.
● What you can do: Talk with your attorney about whether trust-based planning or other probate-avoidance tools can reduce public exposure of your estate and limit targeted fraud.
Issue: Heirs and beneficiaries are prime targets for impersonation scams. Criminals impersonate banks, attorneys, courts, or even executors to solicit money or sensitive data. For example, a scammer may send an email posing as the estate’s bank or attorney, claiming an urgent problem with an account and requesting immediate payment or login credentials from a beneficiary or executor.
● What you can do: Educate executors and beneficiaries about how to spot and avoid common scams[10] and establish a simple verification process for unexpected requests.
Issue: Identity theft of the deceased is common. Dormant and unmonitored accounts create easy entry points and are frequently hijacked after death. Criminals use a decedent’s information found in public records and online obituaries to open credit accounts, redirect mail, submit false change-of-address forms, or file fraudulent tax returns.
● What you can do: Develop a postdeath digital and identity-protection checklist for your estate and executor. This should include promptly notifying the major credit bureaus of the death, placing a credit freeze or fraud alert on the decedent’s credit file, forwarding and monitoring mail, filing the final tax return and IRS death notification, and quickly closing, consolidating, or memorializing unused online accounts and financial profiles.
Do Not Become a Cybercrime Statistic
Cybercrime statistics are sobering. We all know the risks of falling prey to online fraudsters, but when knowledge is not paired with action, it is an invitation for disaster. A proactive approach to cybersecurity rooted in awareness, preparation, and avoiding high-risk situations is key to securing your estate—and your legacy—in a digital world.
[1] Jeffrey Gottfried, Eugenie Park, & Monica Anderson, Online Scams and Attacks in America Today, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (July 31, 2025), https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/07/31/online-scams-and-attacks-in-america-today.
[2] New FTC Data Show a Big Jump in Reported Losses to Fraud to $12.5 Billion in 2024, Fed. Trade Comm’n (Mar. 10, 2025), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/03/new-ftc-data-show-big-jump-reported-losses-fraud-125-billion-2024.
[3] Jack Caporal, Identity Theft and Credit Card Fraud Statistics for 2025, MotleyFoolMoney (Aug. 15, 2025), https://www.fool.com/money/research/identity-theft-credit-card-fraud-statistics.
[4] Vicky Hyman, When It Comes to Fraud, a Sense of Insecurity and Even Inevitability, Global Survey Shows, Mastercard Cybersecurity (Oct. 6, 2025), https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/stories/2025/consumer-cybersecurity-survey.html.
[5] Press Release, FBI, FBI Releases Annual Internet Crime Report (Apr. 23, 2025), https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-annual-internet-crime-report.
[6] Henry Rinder, Fraud Targeting the Elderly and Estates: A Growing Concern, NJCPA (Sept. 23, 2024), https://www.njcpa.org/stayinformed/news/blog/post/njcpa-focus/2024/09/23/fraud-targeting-the-elderly-and-estates--a-growing-concern.
[7] Michelle Maratto & Sana Hashmat, Unmasking Social Engineering: Protecting Your Wealth from Deceptive Cyber Tactics, J.P. Morgan Wealth Mgmt. (Oct. 1, 2025), https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/cybersecurity/phishing/unmasking-social-engineering-protecting-your-wealth-from-deceptive-cyber-tactics.
[8] Niamh Ancell, Cybercriminals Capitalize on LA Wildfire Chaos via Fake GoFundMe’s and Crypto Coins, Cybernews (Jan. 17, 2025), https://cybernews.com/cybercrime/cybercriminals-exploit-la-wildfires.
[9] Brian Fung & Sean Lyngaas, Hackers Are Already Taking Advantage of the CrowdStrike Outage Chaos, CNN Bus. (July 22, 2024), https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/22/tech/hackers-crowdstrike-outage-scams.
[10] How to Avoid Imposter Scams, Fed. Trade Comm’m Consumer Advice, https://consumer.ftc.gov/features/how-avoid-imposter-scams (last visited Dec. 22, 2025).
