Gullett Sanford Robinson & Martin PLLC
Three Ways Assets are Transferred at Death An integral part of the estate planning process is reviewing how assets are titled and beneficiary designations. It doesn’t matter how well written your will or trust is if these estate planning documents do not coordinate with the titling of your asset holdings. In Tennessee and most other…
Tennessee Community Property Trusts A Tennessee community property trust is a special type of trust that allows spouses to convert individually or jointly-owned property to community property. We recently posted a series on the basic forms of joint property ownership in Tennessee. In this series we briefly touched on some of the potential benefits of…
Joint Ownership of Property in Tennessee: Tenancy by the Entirety (Part 3 of 3) Tenancy by the entirety (TE) is the third and final form of joint property ownership in Tennessee. TE ownership may only be between spouses. Like joint tenancy with rights of survivorship (JTWROS) property, at the death of the first spouse TE…
Joint Ownership of Property in Tennessee: JTWROS (Part 2 of 3) Joint tenancy with rights of survivorship (JTWROS) is the second form of joint property ownership in Tennessee. The primary distinction of JTWROS is automatic rights of survivorship at death. Like tenancy in common property, each joint owner of JTWROS property owns an undivided interest…
Joint Ownership of Property in Tennessee: Tenancy in Common (Part 1 of 3) In Tennessee there are three basic forms of concurrent ownership: 1) tenancy in common, 2) joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, and 3) tenancy by the entirety. This is the first of three articles in a series in which we will take…
Is a Revocable Living Trust in Tennessee Right for You? There is no one-size fits all approach when it comes to determining whether a revocable living trust in Tennessee is right for you. Making this determination depends largely on the facts of your individual situation. Reasons for Implementing a Revocable Living Trust in Tennessee For…
Opportunities & Considerations in Establishing a Tennessee Investment Services Trust There are many opportunities, benefits and detriments offered by establishing a Tennessee Investment Services Trust (TIST), or what is commonly called a Tennessee asset protection trust. First adopted in 2007, the statute is still relatively new and untested. It changes centuries of Tennessee common law…
How to Fix Broken Trusts in Tennessee My role as an estate planning attorney regularly involves fixing legal documents that for various reasons no longer achieve the current goals and desires of the parties involved. Oftentimes, such as in the case of a will or a revocable living trust instrument where the person who created…
Don’t Make Bad Beneficiary Designations (Part 3 of 3) In our third and final part of this series on beneficiary designations we will take a look at the consequences of naming a minor as beneficiary of any asset. Mistake No. 3 – Naming a minor as beneficiary of any asset Most people assume that it…
Don’t Make Bad Beneficiary Designations (Part 2 of 3) Beneficiary designation is a very important part of establishing your estate. By failing to name a beneficiary of retirement accounts you are effectively appointing your estate as the beneficiary. Having your estate as the beneficiary of a retirement account could present many tax and non-tax problems…