The Importance of Annual Estate Planning Reviews
Regular estate planning reviews are crucial to ensure your legal documents reflect your current wishes. Learn why annual reviews are essential.
Read MoreEstate Planning Articles
Practical guidance on wills, trusts, powers of attorney, beneficiary designations, and the estate planning strategies that matter most for Pennsylvania families.
Living Trusts vs. Wills: Which Is Right for You in Pennsylvania?
Understand the key differences between living trusts and wills in Pennsylvania, including their advantages, limitations, and when to use each in your estate plan.
Read MoreEstate Planning for Blended Families in Pennsylvania
Blended families face unique estate planning challenges. Learn how Pennsylvania law treats stepchildren, second spouses, and how to create a plan that protects everyone.
Read MoreWhy Your Trust Might Not Work: The Critical Step Most People Miss
A revocable living trust only works if it is properly funded. Learn what trust funding means, how to retitle assets in Pennsylvania, and what happens when funding is overlooked.
Read MoreUnderstanding Powers of Attorney in Pennsylvania: What You Need to Know
A guide to durable powers of attorney in Pennsylvania — financial and healthcare POAs, requirements under 20 Pa.C.S. 5601, and mistakes to avoid.
Read MoreTop Tips for Updating Your Estate Plan After Major Life Changes
Major life events can significantly impact your estate plan. Learn when and how to update your will, trust, power of attorney, and beneficiary designations.
Read MorePA Inheritance Tax Rates 2026: 0%, 4.5%, 12% or 15% — Who Pays What
The rate depends on who inherits: 0% spouse, 4.5% children, 12% siblings, 15% everyone else. What's taxable, the 3-month 5% discount, and a free calculator to estimate your family's bill.
Read MoreEstate Planning in Pennsylvania: Changes You Need to Know About in 2026
The federal estate & gift tax exemption is now permanent at $15M per person. What it means for PA families, plus gifting and small estate updates.
Read MoreThe $500 Million Will That Came From Nowhere — And What It Means for Your Estate Plan
A mysterious will surfaced years after Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh's death — a cautionary tale about estate documents that lack a clear chain of custody.
Read MorePennsylvania Inheritance Tax and Stepchildren: What Happens When the Connecting Spouse Dies?
If your spouse dies and you remarry, are your stepchildren still stepchildren for PA inheritance tax? What blended families need to know about rates, relationships, and planning.
Read MoreEstate Planning for Pennsylvania Business Owners: What's Different and Why It Matters
Pennsylvania business owners face unique estate planning needs — valuation, buy-sell agreements, succession, and liquidity for inheritance tax.
Read MoreDigital Assets and Your Pennsylvania Estate Plan: What Happens to Your Online Accounts When You Die
Crypto, online accounts, digital photos, and points all have value, but most estate plans ignore them. How Pennsylvania handles digital assets.
Read MoreTransferring Your Home to Your Children in Pennsylvania: What You Need to Know First
Giving your home to your children while you're alive triggers capital gains, inheritance tax, and Medicaid problems. The risks and better options.
Read MoreShould You Put Your Kids on the Deed? Why the Answer Is Almost Always No
Adding your children to your property deed seems simple, but it triggers transfer tax, capital gains problems, and exposes your home to their creditors. Here's what to do instead.
Read MoreLife Estate Deeds in Pennsylvania: How They Work, and the Catch
A Pennsylvania life estate deed lets you keep your home for life and pass it to your children outside probate — while preserving the stepped-up basis. Here's how it works and the trade-offs to weigh.
Read MoreEstate Planning for Young Families in Pennsylvania: What Parents of Minor Children Need in Place
No estate plan and minor children? A court decides who raises them and manages their inheritance. What every Pennsylvania parent needs in place.
Read MoreTransfer-on-Death Deeds in Pennsylvania: Why You Can't Use One
Pennsylvania has no transfer-on-death (TOD) deed for real estate. Here's what a TOD deed is, why PA doesn't allow it, and the alternatives that actually keep your home out of probate.
Read MoreThe Hidden Danger of Online Legal Document Services (And Why You Don't Know What You're Missing)
LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer, and AI document tools feel affordable — a PA estate planning attorney explains why they work fine until they don't.
Read MoreThe Medicaid Five-Year Lookback in Pennsylvania, Explained
Pennsylvania Medicaid reviews 5 years of your finances when you apply for long-term care. Learn how the lookback and penalty period work, the transfers that trigger them, and how to plan ahead.
Read MoreLady Bird Deeds in Pennsylvania: Why They Don't Work (and What Does)
Searching for a Lady Bird deed in PA? Pennsylvania does not recognize them — and has no transfer-on-death deed for real estate either. Here are the tools that actually avoid probate on your home in PA.
Read MoreGifting Your Home to Your Kids? The Capital Gains Tax Trap in PA
Giving your house to your children during your lifetime can trigger a large capital gains tax bill they'd avoid by inheriting it. Here's how stepped-up basis works in Pennsylvania — and when gifting still makes sense.
Read MoreHow to Set Up an Irrevocable Trust in Pennsylvania
Irrevocable trusts in PA offer asset protection and tax benefits, but you give up control. Learn the types, rules, and when they make sense.
Read MoreTransferring Property to a Child in Pennsylvania: 5 Ways, Compared
Gift it, sell it, use a life estate, use a trust, or leave it in your will? Compare the five ways to transfer property to a child in Pennsylvania across transfer tax, inheritance tax, capital gains, and Medicaid.
Read MoreREV-1500: How to File the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Return
Plain-English REV-1500 guide: who must file, the 9-month deadline, the 3-month 5% discount, the schedules and deductions, and where to file in your county.
Read MoreHow to Name Beneficiaries Correctly — Common Mistakes That Override Your Will
Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance override your will. Learn the most common mistakes and how to avoid them.
Read MoreHow to Make a Will in Pennsylvania: Requirements, Costs & Step-by-Step Guide
PA will requirements are simpler than most states — 18+, sound mind, in writing, signed at the end. But the traps are real: witness rules, the self-proving affidavit, what a will can't control, and the mistakes that sink wills in probate.
Read MoreEstate Planning for Unmarried Couples in Pennsylvania
Unmarried partners in PA have no automatic inheritance rights and face a 15% inheritance tax. Here is how to protect each other with the right estate plan.
Read MoreKeeping the Lake House in the Family: Estate Planning for Your Indian Lake, Seven Springs, or Deep Creek Vacation Home
The vacation home is often the most emotionally loaded asset in a Pennsylvania estate — and the most legally awkward. A PA estate planning attorney on co-ownership pitfalls, inheritance tax, out-of-state probate, and the structures that actually keep the camp in the family.
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