You may worry that someone unhappy with a bequest may challenge your will and delay the probate of your will. But using no-contest clauses to avoid conflict after your death can provide your family with the gift of peace of mind. A no-contest clause in essence disinherits any heir who challenges the will. In this way, a no-contest clause can save your estate from incurring unnecessary costs and delays in distribution.

The average life expectancy of West Virginians is 75.4 years of age. If you started working at the age of 16 and you retire at age 66, you will have worked for over two-thirds of your entire life and over 87 percent of your adult life. That is a lot of time dedicated to building your retirement savings and planning for retirement . . . and very little time left to enjoy retirement. Presumably, 50 working years or more could provide one or more nice-sized IRAs to fund your retirement as well as something to leave a beneficiary upon your death. But do you know how to fit an IRA in your WV estate plan?

You have worked hard most of your life to build your legacy. Your legacy includes your property and finances that you will have the honor to pass on to your future generations. It is a legacy which will help provide a better life for your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on. You want to protect this legacy from creditors looking to get a piece of your pie after you die. There are a few estate planning asset protection strategies in WV to examine with your estate planning attorney to ensure that your legacy is protected.

Divorce can involve complex legal issues, but at a minimum it involves the identification and protection of each party’s rights and property following the termination of the marriage. But what happens when a spouse executes a will during the marriage and the parties later divorce? Former spouses may wonder about the validity of a will after divorce under West Virginia law. Where do they turn for answers?

West Virginia workers’ compensation news continues in June 2018. An announcement by the West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner and an opinion handed down by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals have employers paying attention. First, the Insurance Commission has released the Workers’ Compensation Benefit Rates for the 2019 fiscal year. And second, the appellate court handed down its opinion in Reed v. Exel Logistics, Inc., creating questions about how to recover a WV workers’ compensation overpayment.