If you do not know and understand the truth about how different estate planning vehicles work and are administered, you cannot make good, informed decisions on what you want. If you do not understand that certain estate planning vehicles push your assets through Probate Court, the result will not be what you or your loved... [Read More]
Category: Estate Planning
Have an Experienced Estate Planning Lawyer Do Your Estate Plan
Beastie Boys musician Adam Yauch recently passed on. He added handwritten language to his Will in an attempt to limit the use and sale of his image or music for advertising and commercial purposes. This was not done properly by an experienced estate planning attorney, but was only a handwritten addition on the Will document itself... [Read More]
Keep Your Estate Plan Current!
Thomas Kincaid, famous for being the “Painter of Light”, recently passed on. He had been separated from his wife for two years and his divorce case had not been settled. Mr. Kincaid had a girlfriend that he had lived with for eighteen (18) months who he reportedly planned to marry when his divorce was final. ... [Read More]
Access to Aged Parents
Sometimes there will be friction between adult children or step parents and an aged child which will preclude access to an adult child’s parent, especially if that adult parent is in a weakened condition mentally or physically. I had a friend call me recently where the octogenarian “wicked step mother” was limiting this middle aged... [Read More]
Don’t Wait to Do Estate Planning
Some people are waiting for the Estate Code to settle. The Bush Tax Cuts of May 2001 expire January 1, 2013. At that time, the Estate Tax exemption goes back down to roughly $1 million. Therefore, any assets you own valued at more than $1 million could be subject to federal and state Estate Tax... [Read More]
Estate Planning for Blended Families Is an Adventure
Any time you are doing Estate Planning for Blended Families, it is always a balancing act. You have to balance the couple’s desire to take care of each other vs. their desire to take care of their children from their previous marriage. As usual, a Revocable Living Trust is the best foundational Estate Planning tool. ... [Read More]
Ready or Not, Here It Comes
Studies show that 75% of us do not even have a current Will, let alone the needed legal planning in the event we become sick and our loved ones are unable to authorize medical treatment for us. Nor do we have the proper legal planning in place for loved ones and friends to ask medical... [Read More]
Asset Protection – Do It Right!
I know a very bright and courageous entrepreneur who is trying to do Asset Protection, but they are being taken advantage of. Unfortunately, this very bright person has bought into the “seminar circuit” and has attended seminars by a national speaker who travels and hits some high points, tells some horror stories about asset protection... [Read More]
Your Living Trust and Dementia or Alzheimer’s
You can plan within your Living Trust to remain in control in the event you become mentally incapacitated by dementia or Alzheimer’s. You can plan for Mental Disability in the form of having a panel which would consist of a physician and family members or friends to decide if they need to turn on the... [Read More]
Rumor Has It…One Year Extension on Bush Tax Cuts
The most current reliable rumor on backside negotiations between the Republicans and Democrats that effect Estate Taxes and other tax issues is that there will be a one year extension (or “patch”) on the Bush Tax Cuts. As you know, the Bush Tax Cuts that went into effect in May 2001 are set to expire... [Read More]