Posted on September 23, 2021 in Trusts

You’re proud of your firearms collection. You even have a few beautiful antiques that have been in your family for generations. If you hope to pass your collection — or even one of your prized guns — to your heirs you may need a gun trust to protect them from potential criminal charges.

A gun trust is a specific type of trust that is designed to take legal possession of your firearms. You can make the trust irrevocable at the moment of its creation — which means you relinquish all ability to change its terms. You may also choose to make it revocable so that it can be amended as needed.

Who needs a gun trust?

Generally speaking, gun trusts are designed to hold “Title II” weapons as defined by the National Firearms Act. Specifically, this includes:

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 Posted on September 12, 2021 in Wills

Whether you create an extensive estate plan or simply a will, there are certain things you need to include in any legal document to ensure it serves its intended purpose. 

The goal of drafting a will is usually to leave a legacy once you die and provide for those who depend on you. What are the basic pieces of information that every will should include?

Information about assets

The more private you are with your personal finances, the less information other people will have about your property and debts. 

You will want to include specific details about all of your major assets, from your primary residence to investment properties and brokerage accounts. Keeping a comprehensive list of your most valuable assets will make it easier for your executor to locate and secure them after your death.

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 Posted on August 29, 2021 in Divorce

Divorce is a difficult process, but it doesn’t have to be. There are many ways you can make the experience easier for you and your children. One way to do so is by filing for a no-fault divorce in Virginia. You’ll save time and money while protecting your rights as a parent when you pursue this option.

All 50 states offer some form of no-fault divorce, and Virginia is no exception. The Family Law Act of 1969 was first signed into law in California, making the state the first to allow no-fault divorce. By 1985 all 50 states had followed suit. Many divorcing spouses now pursue no-fault divorces because it’s more efficient for them to do so while also being less harmful to children. 

What is a no-fault divorce?

Both spouses must agree to the divorce and prove that they meet all requirements to move forward in terminating their marriage if they wish to pursue a no-fault divorce. The most common ground for granting a divorce is irreconcilable differences. This means that any disputes that spouses have cannot be reasonably resolved. Neither spouse has to show that their husband or wife’s actions are to blame for the marriage ending if they pursue a no-fault divorce.

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 Posted on August 25, 2021 in Divorce

The college costs are one of the major concerns for parents in Herndon, and not without a good reason. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, parents paid between $18,383 and $47,419 for undergraduate education in the academic year of 2018-2019. The costs depend on whether the child attends a private or a public institution. However, the price is high no matter what. You can’t deal with those expenses on your own, but you don’t have to. Even though child support ends when your child becomes an adult, you can reach an agreement with your ex to help you with college costs.

Child support laws in Virginia

The law in Virginia clearly states that child support ends the day a child turns 18 years old. This means that once your child reaches that age, your ex won’t have the obligation of paying for their needs anymore. The only way the court can order the continuation of support for a child over 18 years old is if:

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 Posted on August 15, 2021 in Divorce

Divorce can be rough, yet that does not mean your divorce will be bad for your children’s mental health. Each child is different, and each family is unique. Divorce could even be beneficial for your child if the current situation between you and your spouse involves a lot of conflicts.

Various studies have tried to assess the impact of divorce on children’s mental health. One suggested it might not be the marital status so much as the quality of the parents’ relationship that mattered. It found that children of parents who later divorced were already more likely to suffer depression, anxiety or behavioral issues than those whose parents stayed together — but the fractured household may have just accelerated problems already present.

Can you reduce the chance that divorce affects your child’s mental health?

Some children, like some adults, are naturally more prone to depression and anxiety than others. If your child is already prone to these issues, take extra care when you decide to divorce. Here are a few tips that you can use with all children:

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 Posted on July 30, 2021 in Divorce

One mistake many people make in a divorce is to only look to the future. They spend days dreaming about what will happen once the divorce is finalized but forget that the moment one spouse utters the magic words “I want a divorce,” life will never be the same again.

If you are still only considering divorce, but have not mentioned it to your spouse, take time to secure your immediate future first. Think back to how you felt when a former boyfriend or girlfriend told you it was over. It hurt, and that pain may have caused you to do some crazy things. With a marriage, you can expect any reaction to be much worse.

Divorce takes preparation

Think about the options for the next few months now, while things are calm. Protecting your position is not sly or cunning. It is good common sense. You have a stressful time ahead, and you need to ensure you are ready for all that could happen:

• Secure your finances: Getting through a divorce requires money. Make sure you have money put aside to pay for essentials such as food, housing and legal fees. You can seek a court order to prevent your spouse from moving funds or cutting you off financially during the divorce process.

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 Posted on July 16, 2021 in Trusts

Creating a trust can help you achieve many different goals. You could skip a generation when planning for family inheritances. You can protect your assets from creditor activity or make sure you can qualify for Medicaid. You could even help a family member with special needs live independently.

The structure of the trust and how you fund it will be very important, but the trustee is also a crucial aspect of a trust’s success. The person who asked to uphold the rules you set in place and manage the assets funding the trust is the one who ultimately controls what happens to your property or your legacy.

Most people choose one person they know to serve as trustee, but there are two other, less common approaches to naming a trustee.

Appointing 2 or more people to serve as co-trustees

The more assets you have in a trust, the greater the incentive to put personal benefit above the best interests of the beneficiaries. Even very honorable people can get tempted into misconduct when given control over and access to significant assets.

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 Posted on July 05, 2021 in Child Custody

Most parents think about needing a custody plan after their divorce, but not all of them think about a parenting plan. 

Parenting plans are different because they outline how two parents will raise their children after divorce. These plans are usually required in family divorce cases because addressing differences in parenting priorities or habits is important. 

What goes into a parenting plan?

Parents should try to come up with a parenting plan that they’re both happy with. In your parenting plan, you should include information such as:

• The health care details for your child
• Legal and physical custody details
• Extracurricular activity information
• The visitation schedule
• College expenses information
• How you’ll resolve any disagreements that arise

A good parenting plan can be helpful as you get used to parenting in two homes.

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 Posted on June 19, 2021 in Trusts

Estate plans can be very simple and include just a last will. They can also be very complex and involve multiple different documents. Trusts are some of the most popular inclusions in modern estate plans. 

Far from being a tool only by the wealthy, trusts have many advantages that could benefit the average individual trying to structure their estate. The following three benefits are some compelling reasons to add a trust to your estate:

1. A trust can protect your property from creditors

As you get older, your care costs are probably going to increase. If you need to go into a nursing home or require aggressive cancer treatment, you could eventually end up with tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medical debt. 

Both while you are still alive and after you die, creditors could come after your property to repay those debts. Moving assets into a trust makes it harder for creditors to lay claim to them.

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 Posted on June 07, 2021 in Divorce

Maybe you worked hard throughout your marriage to support your family, which means that you are the one who accrued Social Security by making payroll contributions. On the other hand, perhaps you stayed home to take care of your house or your children and let your spouse be the one who pursued professional success.

Now that you think divorce might be in your future, you probably worry about many different financial issues, including what will happen to those Social Security benefits. Will divorce affect your right to Social Security during retirement?

What if you are a dependent spouse?

As someone who didn’t make enough payroll contributions to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits, you probably expected to benefit from your spouse’s work contributions. The good news is that a divorce does not end your right to claim benefits from their Social Security if your marriage lasted at least ten years. You also have the option of claiming your own Social Security retirement benefits and making a claim against your spouse’s benefits if there is a big gap between what they accrued and what you did.

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