Regardless of the outcome the federal and state elections, Probate Court Costs in North Carolina can be up to $6,000.00 per person or $12,000.00 per couple. Administrative costs, much of that including attorney’s fees, will still average 5% to 7% of your assets that move through Probate Court. The average time to move through Probate... [Read More]
Tag: planning
What About the Election?
The outcome of the Presidential Election is unlikely to resolve the Tax Code in 2013. As most people know, the Bush Tax Cuts of 2001 are set to expire on January 1, 2013. It has been long anticipated that there would be a one year extension of those tax cuts. The Republicans in the House... [Read More]
You Have to Tell the Truth
An experienced, relationship based Estate Planning Lawyer needs to know the truth before they can do good Estate Planning for you and your loved ones. That skilled, relational Estate Planning Lawyer needs to be able to know and understand you and your loved ones’ strengths and weaknesses, goals and concerns, and the real truth about... [Read More]
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]
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]
Adult Guardianship Is a Custody Case
Adult incompetency proceedings, also know as guardianship cases, consist of two parts. Both parts are court proceedings in Probate Court or before the Clerk of Superior Court in North Carolina. The Clerk of Superior Court is also the Probate Judge in North Carolina. There are two major parts of the guardianship case. The first is... [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]