Last Writes

Brian Wilson was a co-founder, singer, and songwriter, behind the Beach Boys. Wilson died in 2025 at age 82, leaving behind a legacy that influenced generations of artists. His later years also offer an important estate-planning lesson. Wilson’s advance health care directive named his wife, Melinda, as his health care agent but reportedly did not name a successor. After Melinda died in January 2024 and Wilson was unable to make health care decisions because of a neurocognitive disorder, his family and friends petitioned a California court for a conservatorship. The court ...

Daniel Craig is an actor best known for portraying James Bond, including in the film “No Time to Die.” In a 2021 interview, Craig described leaving large sums to the next generation as distasteful. He explained that his philosophy is to spend or give away his wealth during his lifetime rather than leave it all behind. You do not have to share Craig’s philosophy to appreciate the point: estate planning is not limited to deciding what happens after death.

Lifetime gifting allows you to use your wealth intentionally, see its impact, and help the people and organizations that matter to ...

When people die, they usually leave assets, debts, or both. Collectively, the assets and debts owned by the individual become owned by the individual's estate. After a person's death, someone needs to wrap up the decedent's affairs, and the legal authority to do that comes through the estate administration process. This blog on the basics of the overall process is the first in a series of four covering estate administration in West Virginia (WV), Kentucky (KY), and Ohio (OH).

Why Understanding Estate Administration is Important

Estate administration is the legal process of ...