The kids are back to school. Homerooms chosen, emergency contact forms completed, lockers set up and pencils sharpened just-so. But have you done your estate plan homework? Many people review their estate plan at a regular frequency, often when they review their
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In the golden age of the smartphone, you’re never far from a camera. This has made the sharing of videos and photos easier than ever before. Easy access to a quality camera has led many people to wonder: can I make a
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Talking to Your Parents About Estate Planning from a Distance People say that nothing is guaranteed except for death and taxes. Avoiding talking about these subjects is a common occurrence, but failure to plan for one’s death can create serious stress for
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It’s that time of year again: tax season. No one enjoys doing their taxes, and that is likely why many of us leave this tedious task to the last…possible…moment. As Tax Day approaches, millions of Americans are likely scrambling to track down
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Non-traditional families have a unique set of challenges when it comes to estate planning. Since single parents, blended families, unmarried partners, and other non-traditional families do not have many of the automatic protections that the law provides married couples, these families must
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After a Living Trust is established as part of someone’s estate plan, the person setting up the Trust (the “Trustor”) usually serves as initial “Trustee”. A Trustee is in charge of the administration of the Trust and the handling of the Trust
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For decades the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs has provided a benefit for veterans or their surviving spouses that can be used to pay for home care, assisted living, and for a nursing home costs. Most veterans did not know this
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Estate planning is an important task that everyone should undertake as it helps to protect your family and loved one’s financial future. But estate planning can do much more than focus on finances, it can also provide for care of those you
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When you think of IRAs, you probably think of retirement. But what happens to your IRA money after you’re gone? The answer depends on how you go about creating your estate plan and selecting beneficiaries, and you might be surprised to find
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With a toss of caps into the air, high school graduates begin new chapters in their lives, full of exciting possibilities. Is now really the time to think about estate planning documents such as health care directives? Absolutely! What are Healthcare Directives?
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Medicaid planning requires confrontation with uncomfortable realities. It’s scary to imagine that you might not be able to care for yourself one day. The solution to this fear is planning. By taking stock of your challenges, you can approach the next phase
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Medicaid planning, in theory, should be pretty straightforward. After all, millions of people depend on Medicaid to some extent to pay for late in life care. We’ve collectively had decades to work out kinks in the system. And the basic concepts underlying
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Most parents want to make sure their children are provided for in the event something happens to them while the children are still minors. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and good friends sometimes want to leave gifts to beloved young children too. Unfortunately, good
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Business Planning, for your small business, preparing your company for your incapacity or death is vital to the survival of the enterprise. Otherwise, your business will be disrupted, harming your customers, employees, vendors, and your family. For this reason, proactive business planning
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The new tax legislation raises the federal estate tax exemption to $11.2 million for individuals and $22.4 million for couples. The increase means that an exceedingly small number of estates (only about 1,800, nationally) will have to worry about federal estate taxes
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Whether you run a business or just care deeply about your family, you’ve developed a strong moral code. This wisdom was hard-won. You’d like to pass it on to the people you care about most, so that they won’t have to go
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Bestselling author, David Allen, argues that our brains, like computers, have a finite amount of RAM (Random Access Memory). Although this conscious storage is limited, our unconscious mind still knows something needs doing. As Allen writes in his book, Getting Things Done:
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It’s been the season for devastation, with three storms ravaging the U.S. and Caribbean. The human costs of these storms are hard to contemplate. But there can be smaller costs that cause pain, too: Lost photos, keepsakes and mementos of lives well
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Disputes over inheritance can get ugly, quickly. But what happens when loved ones disagree about estate management, even at the planning stage? Resolving these disputes can be critical, because disputes over inheritance can be devastating to a family, emotionally, and financially. If
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It’s that time of year again! The Target and Office Depot ads are running! Preparing to send our children back into the school year is one of parenting’s biggest chores and greatest reliefs (if you agree with all the advertisements). We’re busy
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Preserving Legacy is an important moving piece to your estate planning. It’s the news no one wants to hear. Uncomfortable though it may be, imagine for a moment that your doctor has just diagnosed you with a serious or debilitating medical illness,
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When done thoughtfully, good estate planning should help prevent family quarrels and protect private financial information from being brought into the public eye. Apparently, such was not the case for three-time Grammy Award winning R&B singer Barry White, who died in 2003.
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Estate planning is the process of developing a strategy for the care and management of your estate if you become incapacitated or upon your death. One commonly known purpose of estate planning is to minimize taxes and costs, including taxes imposed on
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Bill had worked hard to build a successful real estate firm, eventually accumulating an estate worth $4 million. He arranged for each of his four kids to receive an inheritance of 25 percent of his assets when he died. Despite Bill’s attempts
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“I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.” –Andrew Carnegie An article posted in Money offers a startling statistic: Approximately 70 percent of wealthy families lose their fortunes by the
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