The term is often described as having originated in Renaissance Italy, where there allegedly existed the tradition of smashing a banker's bench if he defaulted on payment

The probated will then becomes a legal instrument that may be enforced by the executor in the law courts if necessary

For other uses of the word "trust", see Trust (disambiguation)

If someone is already incapacitated, it is not possible for that person to execute a valid power, although in some jurisdictions, it may be possible for someone to have the capacity to execute a power of attorney even if they do not have the capacity to make the decisions that they are delegating

of income tax, gift tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, and generation-skipping transfer tax plays a significant role in choosing the structure and vehicles used to create an estate plan

Most relatively simple estates (cash, publicly traded securities, small amounts of other easily valued assets, and no special deductions or elections, or jointly held property) do not require the filing of an estate tax return

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