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Estate Planning Insights & Resources

Explore our latest blogs and expert tips to help you navigate your estate planning journey with confidence.

What Are Letters Testamentary?

You were named executor in your father's will, and now a bank teller says they can't close his account until you bring in something called "letters testamentary." You've never heard the term, and you're sorting out an estate while still absorbing that he's gone.

Bryan M. Etter

4 min. read

Trusts

The Dangers of an Irrevocable Trust

Someone has told you an irrevocable trust is the answer, maybe for Medicaid planning, maybe for protecting assets from a lawsuit, and it sounds right. Before you commit, whether this is your own decision or your parent's and you're the one doing the research, you want to know what nobody's telling you about the dangers of an irrevocable trust.

Bryan M. Etter

4 min. read

What Is Probate in Connecticut?

Most people meet this word on the worst day of their life. A parent has died, someone calls the bank, and a voice on the other end says the account is frozen until probate. So you go looking for an answer to a question you never expected to ask: what is probate, and how long will this take?

Bryan M. Etter

6 min. read

Wills

What Is a Codicil to a Will?

Your will is five years old. Since you signed it, a grandchild arrived, and the friend you named as executor moved to Arizona. The document still has your name on it, but it no longer describes your life. So you start looking for the fix, and you find a word you have probably never used out loud: codicil.

Bryan M. Etter

6 min. read

Trusts

Types of Irrevocable Trusts: A Plain-English Guide for Connecticut Families

You sat down with a financial advisor, or maybe a friend at church, and someone told you that your family "needs an irrevocable trust." So you started reading. And within about five minutes you hit a wall of letters: MAPT, ILIT, SLAT, GRAT, QPRT. Every one of them promising to protect something, none of them explained in words a normal person uses.

Bryan M. Etter

8 min. read

Wills

Can a Power of Attorney Change a Will?

You are caring for an aging parent. Their memory is slipping, the bills are piling up, and you are holding a power of attorney that feels like it should let you fix everything. So you ask the hard question: can a power of attorney change a will? The worry underneath it is real. If the wrong person could rewrite Mom's or Dad's wishes, no family would ever feel safe.

Bryan M. Etter

8 min. read

Retirement

How to Save for Retirement: A Guide for Connecticut Families

You have spent decades earning, raising a family, and paying down the house. Somewhere along the way you started a 401(k), maybe opened an IRA, and told yourself you were "doing the retirement thing." If you are now trying to figure out how to save for retirement in a way that actually holds up, you are asking exactly the right question at exactly the right time.

Bryan M. Etter

8 min. read

Trusts

Revocable vs Irrevocable Trust: What's the Difference?

You sat down to protect your family, and now you're stuck on a fork in the road you didn't see coming. You've decided a trust makes sense. Good. But the moment you start reading, everyone keeps talking about a revocable vs irrevocable trust, as if you're supposed to already know which one you need.

Bryan M. Etter

8 min. read

Wills

How to Make a Will

You have been meaning to make a will for years. Maybe you bought the house, had the kids, watched a parent's estate get tangled up, and told yourself you would get to it. If you are finally ready to learn how to make a will, you are doing one of the most caring things you can for the people in your inner circle.

Bryan M. Etter

9 min. read

How to Avoid Probate in Connecticut

You worked hard for what you have. The last thing you want is for your family to spend months in a courtroom, paying fees and waiting on a judge, just to receive what you already meant for them to have. That is exactly what probate can do. Learning how to avoid probate, or at least greatly reduce the impacts, is one of the most practical, loving things you can do for the people in your inner circle.

Bryan M. Etter

6 min. read

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