When two or more people own real estate, the relationship between the owners is known as a “tenancy.” There are a number of different kinds of tenancy. Understanding the differences is important, because different kinds of tenancy can mean different rules for whether an interest in the property can be inherited outside of probate and whether creditors can claim the property. Tenancy comes in three main forms: tenancy in common, joint tenancy, and tenancy by the

Not only are people living longer these days, but there’s a growing trend of widows and widowers remarrying in their 60s, 70s and 80s. A remarriage late in life can bring happiness, but it can also create complexities for estate planning. For most elderly people who remarry, the chief issue is that they want to look out for their adult children and make sure those children have an inheritance. Lack of estate planning can result in

The federal estate tax expired at the end of 2009, and believe it or not, the lack of an estate tax is creating a serious problem for many people who have not revised their wills in a while. The federal estate tax applied in 2009 to estates of more than $3.5 million. It is slated to come back in 2011, and apply to estates of more than $1 million. Most people expected that Congress would “fix”