Life insurance can be a powerful tool in your estate plan . It can be relied on to help your surviving spouse or heirs when you're gone. If your estate is taxable, life insurance may be used to pay estate taxes and other expenses. As with any aspect of estate planning, the devil is in the details...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently handed down its decision in the case of Astrue v. Capato. The circumstances of the case are ones most of us will never experience. Nonetheless, the case has lessons for everyone. It underscores the importance of creating a precisely worded estate plan that takes all contingencies...