Part Five

Brush up on your state law

You should familiarize yourself with your state's exemptions and property laws. This arcane information could affect how you hold and title your assets, and even whether you should purchase term insurance or invest in a whole life policy. For example: In the state of Illinois, the homestead exemption is only $7,500. However, you can protect the entire cash value of the life insurance and annuities so long as the beneficiary is a dependent. There is no homestead exemption in the state of Maryland, but it's one of the states allowing you to hold property as "tenants by the entirety." Which means, generally, creditors of just one spouse can't reach property titled this way.

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