Category Archives: Estate Planning

PI+ Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Pat Wardian Telephone: 208-664-8980 Email: pat@wardianwealth.com PERSONAL INJURY LAWSUITS HAVE NEW RESOURCE TEAM Personal Injury Plus, also known as PI+, has been formed to provide litigation support and case management for personal injury lawsuits. Personal injury … Continue reading

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Choosing a Trustee – What Characteristics are Needed?

Those Grantors who don’t struggle with the selection of a Trustee probably should.  I’ll confess that poor Trustee selection creates revenue opportunities for me, either through the cost of cleaning up a Trust mess or as an expert witness in … Continue reading

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Estate Planning for Digital Assets

Oddly, Idaho and Oklahoma are the only two states that have statutory provisions for the probate of digital assets.  Increasingly, estate planners are going to need to consider ways to protect and pass along digital assets.  Here is a great … Continue reading

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Form and Substance: Estate of Paul H. Liljestrand v. Commissioner

Form and substance are equally important which, while having specific application to the failed family limited partnership discussed in the article linked below, has broader philosophical application in life. But that is the subject of another blog. Estate planners must … Continue reading

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Too Many Eggs in the Trustee’s Basket

I recently worked on a piece of trust litigation where the deceased Grantor of a Trust restricted the ability of the Trustee to sell a leveraged asset that comprised > 95% of the Trust’s assets.  Regardless of the Grantor’s intentions, … Continue reading

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Cost Basis Research

For the accountants and attorneys out there, here is a link to a great resource for researching the cost basis of investments.  I’ve done this manually many times in the past and its quite a chore, particularly where there are … Continue reading

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Is the Trustee you’ve selected qualified and prepared?

Excellent guidelines to use in choosing the appropriate Trustee for your trust(s).  The answer is not as simple as you would think. Who is Fit to Be Trustee? Ask me about Trustee Scorecard (TM)

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“Inheritances are an equalizing force that mitigates the inequalities found in American household wealth.”  Sounds counter intuitive, but check out this article and study: Debunking the “Sin” of Inheritance

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Joint Ownership of Property Between Generations

I can’t think of any situation where its advisable to use joint ownership where there’s not a better solution, except to keep people like me employed as an expert witness in the resulting litigation. Top 5 Reasons to Beware of … Continue reading

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Why Wealth Disappears

Business owners and those who advise them should take note. Why Wealth Disappears.

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