Unlocking the Potential of Your Trust: What You Can IncludeEmbarking on your Estate Planning journey is an exciting - yet - potentially overwhelming task. Stay calm and collected throughout the process by keeping yourself organized. Before taking the first steps in creating your trust, you will want to make sure you have a strong understanding of what a trust is, what the benefits are, and which type of trust is right for you.

GoodTrust: Empowering 500K Members & Counting!With both excitement and a heartfelt sense of purpose, we celebrate a remarkable milestone - GoodTrust has touched the lives of over 500,000 individuals! 🎉

How to Make Your Power of Attorneys & Health Care Directives Valid in Your StateWelcome to the next step of securing your legacy! With your power of attorney or health care directive in hand, you're on the verge of ensuring its legal execution according to your state's regulations. Remember, each state holds the power to establish its laws within certain parameters. In the following sections, you'll discover state-specific insights about signatures, document storage, execution procedures, and even who can draft such documents. Adhering to your state's rules is crucial to guarantee the legitimacy of your documents. Let's dive into the details!

The Ultimate Bucket List: 50 Must-Do Adventures for a Life Well-Lived!Are you ready to seize life's most exciting adventures while securing a future you can be proud of? Look no further! Welcome to the ultimate guide on creating a bucket list that not only promises unforgettable experiences but also empowers you to plan ahead for peace of mind. Whether you're a thrill-seeker, a wanderlust, or simply someone who wants to make the most of life, we've got you covered. Checking off each one means you're constantly taking steps toward a life well-lived— one where you can look back with lots of memories and no regrets.

How Financial and Estate Planning Work Hand in HandFinancial Planning and Estate Planning go hand in hand. As your client's needs evolve, so should the resources you offer. By working together to simplify the complex, they can focus on what truly matters: their lives and loved ones. In the US, 67% of Americans lack an estate plan and, as a country, we rank 14th in the Global Financial Literacy Survey. Planning for the financial future can feel complex and out of reach for some, and offering estate planning can help them make sense of the future and clarify what matters for their financial plan.

How to Make Your Wills & Trusts Valid in Your StateWelcome to the next step of securing your legacy! With your will or trust in hand, you're on the verge of ensuring its legal execution according to your state's regulations. Remember, each state holds the power to establish its laws within certain parameters. In the following sections, you'll discover state-specific insights about signatures, document storage, execution procedures, and even who can draft such documents. Adhering to your state's rules is crucial to guarantee the legitimacy of your documents. Let's dive into the details!

Estate Planning for your College Bound StudentCongratulations high-school graduates and congratulations to you too, parents! Now that your child has completed one of the first life milestones it is time to make sure they are properly set up to live through and achieve the rest of the fantastic breakthroughs that lie ahead. As a parent, it can be tough seeing your kids grow out of teenage-hood and into young adulthood. It is natural for you to want to know how you can best assist your child during this time; helping create the first set of documents in their estate plan is a great way to remain hands-on while allowing them to flourish as young adults.

What is a Revocable Living Trust and Why Should I Consider One?When it comes to estate planning, there are various tools and strategies available to ensure the smooth transfer of assets as well as protect the interests of your loved ones. One such tool that has gained popularity in recent years is the revocable living trust. This legal arrangement allows individuals to maintain control over their assets during their lifetime while providing an efficient distribution of assets after their passing.

Celebrity Estate Planning Mistakes and What We Can Learn from ThemYou’d think you have nothing in common with the incredibly famous. Yes, we’re talking Michael Jackson, Picasso, and Princess Diana level famous. But, if you have nothing else in common, you certainly have the fact that you too, are at risk of dying without a will if you don’t take your estate planning seriously. Many famous people have died without a will to the detriment of their families and beneficiaries. Dying without a will, also known as dying ‘intestate,’ basically means your wishes aren’t recorded and how your estate is divided is simply based on the laws that govern your state.

Worst States to Pass Away Without a Will: A Study by GoodTrust and Caring.comWhen it comes to securing your family and financial future, there's a crucial piece that often gets overlooked: estate planning. Estate planning is the process of passing down your important belongings to the important people in your life as well as assigning a guardian for your minor children. One main point to understand is that each state has its own laws in regard to probate, guardianship, and asset distribution. In an effort to help make this information available and offer some education around the nuances in each state, GoodTrust partnered with Caring.com to document the specific laws in all 50 states across America. We then ranked each state based on the clarity and simplicity of their systems. The resulting ranking shows that New York, Alaska, Georgia, and Tennessee are the worst states to die without a will, while Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas pose the least risk for those without a will.

Essential Estate Planning Tips for New ParentsCongratulations on becoming a new parent! Whether you’re adopting or giving birth, becoming a parent is an exciting and overwhelming time. You’ve thought of everything, the onesies, the diapers, the crib, but have you thought of estate planning? While becoming a parent is a happy time, it can also be a little stressful considering all the important things you need to put in place to ensure your child is safe and healthy now and in the future. Creating or updating your estate plan is one of these things. It helps you make sure your child will remain safe even if you are no longer here to look after them. At GoodTrust, we’re here to help you make sense of this daunting task so you can get back to what you love: caring for your new child.

Estate Planning For MillennialsMillennials have gotten called technology-savvy and ambitious, but they’ve also been called broke and bad at handling money. It turns out, Millennials are more likely to have an estate plan than older generations. According to a Northwestern Mutual’s study, 58% of millennials have comprehensive estate plans in place which is more than Generation X and Baby Boomers.