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This powerful phrase captures a fundamental shift happening in estate planning today. Families with significant assets are discovering that the old approach of holding everything in their personal names creates unnecessary exposure, legal vulnerability, and public visibility they'd rather avoid.

Most people still use an outdated, transactional version of estate planning—one that focuses almost entirely on what happens after someone dies. But estate planning has changed dramatically in the last few decades. In fact, trust and estate laws have modernized more in the last 10–20 years than in the previous 200. Yet the strategies many attorneys use haven’t kept up.

Many people who set up trusts years ago wonder: can you actually change a trust after it's been created? Maybe you've moved to a different state, your family situation has changed, or you simply want to update outdated provisions. The short answer is yes—but how you change it matters more than you might think. Attorney Stuart Green explains why most people are making costly mistakes when updating their trusts, and reveals the cleanest, safest method for making changes.

Many people believe that the simplest way to avoid estate planning is to just gift assets to their children while they're still alive. No will. No trust. No lawyers. Problem solved, right? Not quite. In 2025, this approach can expose your family to serious legal risks and cause them to miss out on significant tax benefits. Attorney Stuart Green explains why proper estate planning beats early gifting almost every time.

Many people assume that once they’ve created a sophisticated trust, their estate plan is complete. But in 2025, a properly drafted will is still essential, even for those using advanced trust strategies. Attorney Stuart Green explains how wills and trusts work together to create a complete, legally sound estate plan.

Attorney Stuart Green explains the two most powerful asset protection strategies for 2025: properly structured LLCs and South Dakota self-settled irrevocable trusts. Both tools have evolved in important ways, and when combined, they create one of the strongest legal frameworks available for protecting wealth.

Attorney Stuart Green explains why your attorney may not be giving you the full picture when it comes to probate and your estate plan. Probate can be costly and slow. In this video, Stuart breaks down the hidden drawbacks of probate, why some attorneys push clients toward it, and the alternatives you should know about, such as revocable living trusts that can provide more privacy, flexibility, and control.

Attorney Stuart Green explains why an irrevocable trust isn’t as rigid as many believe. In South Dakota, trustees have the legal ability to rename an irrevocable trust, adding flexibility and enhancing privacy. Discover why this matters for asset protection, how re-domiciling a trust to South Dakota opens up new options, and why even small changes like a trust name can play a big role in the long term.