
New Article Published: Why Every Nonprofit Needs a Gift Acceptance Policy
Charitable Giving, NonprofitsI love the opportunity to write for the Iowa State Bar Association's monthly publication, The Iowa Lawyer. I enjoy even more that you don't have to be an attorney, judge, or even work in the legal field to read it! I recommend all nonprofit…

ABCs of CGAs: Basics of Charitable Gift Annuities
Charitable GivingThe Basics
A charitable gift annuity (CGA) is a contract in which a charity, in return for a transfer of assets, such as say, stocks or farmland, agrees to pay a fixed amount of money to one or two individuals, for their lifetime. A person…

(Legal) Word of the Day: Settlor (AKA Donor or Grantor)
Legal Word of the Day, Trusts, Wills, Trusts & EstatesSettlor (or Donor or Grantor)
The person who creates a trust is called the settlor (sometimes called the donor or grantor). It is the settlor’s intent which is of paramount importance. It is the intent of the settlor that determines whether…

Happy Father's Day: Give Dad the Gift of Estate Planning
Estates & Estate PlanningHappy Father's Day to all the dads, grandpas, uncles, and father figures out there! There are many kinds of fathers, from the beer-drinking to the book-reading, from the golf-loving to the car-fixing, to all of the above. And, just like there's…

Estate Planning with Cryptocurrency
Estates & Estate Planning, Taxes & Finance, Wills, Trusts & EstatesA cutting edge issue in traditional estate planning is cryptocurrency. “Cryptocurrency” (as defined by Investopedia) is “a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security. A cryptocurrency is difficult to counterfeit because…

Estate Planning Basics: What You Need to Know, but Were too Bored to Ask
Charitable Giving, Estates & Estate Planning, Powers of Attorney, Trusts, Wills, Wills, Trusts & EstatesI KEEP six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.– Rudyard Kipling
I’ll use all six “serving men”—what, why, when, how, where, and who, albeit sometimes…
