When clients come into our office to design their estate plans one of their biggest concerns is how to dispose of their tangible personal property. Sometimes clients spend more time determining how to dispose of these personal mementos than they do the big ticket items such as bank accounts, real property, and investments. This is… Read More »
Blog Posts Page 50
If You’re Waiting on Congress to Settle the Estate Tax—Better to Take Action Now
Schoolchildren aren’t the only ones putting their noses back to the grindstone after this warm summer and long Labor Day weekend; Congress is also returning to work, and among the many issues they will be discussing is that of the Estate Tax, which is set to expire for one year in 2010. According to The Wall… Read More »
What We Can Learn From the Kennedy Trusts
The recent death of Senator Ted Kennedy has given us an opportunity to reflect on the unique nature of trusts not only as a tool to protect assets for future generations, but also as a way to leave a lasting legacy for your children and grandchildren. The Kennedy trust—or Kennedy trusts, we should say—are some… Read More »
Blended Families Bring Unique Challenges for Caregivers
A recent study about how divorce may affect your health has been making the rounds in the news sources lately. This article discusses how the added stress of divorce, family upheaval, and tighter finances can be so detrimental to your health that the effects can last years into the future. Because our firm works frequently… Read More »
How To Boost Your Social Security Income: Little Known Strategies!
Approximately $10 BIllion in Social Security Benefits go unclaimed every year, primarily because married couples do not know how to optomize their social security benefits. Being wise about these spousal benefits and how they work, can result in increased social security income for a married couple. According to a recent article in AARP Magazine by Lynn Brenner,… Read More »
Good News. . . You’ll Live Longer…
Planning for retirement often requires a fine-tuned equation which includes such variables as where you plan to live, how many years you’ve worked and how much social security you can expect, health care expectations, long-term care, and especially your life expectancy. Well, part of that equation is about to change, because according to U.S. News… Read More »
Helping the Special People in Your Life: The Special Needs Trust
Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles often come into our offices to make estate plans, and one of the questions they ask is how they can support the people in their lives who have special needs. Special needs can include anything from Autism or Down Syndrome to Paralysis or blindness, and everything in between. These special… Read More »
Finances Are A Family Affair
We’ve all been learning a lot more lately about economics and investment practices than we ever thought we would… but do these lessons from the global economy transfer to the family circle? Studies have shown that most families have one person who takes care of all the finances: paying the bills, setting aside money for… Read More »
In the News: What Does it Mean to Have a Health Care Directive?
There seems to be a lot of fear around President Obama’s proposed healthcare reforms, most of that fear centering on the end-of-life planning included in the proposal. As a firm that deals with elder law issues, it is important to us that our clients be informed about their health care and choices. As we regularly counsel… Read More »
Protect Your Child from Dangerous Guardians
Some of the clients who seek our estate planning advice are parents of small children whose primary goal in creating an estate plan is to protect their children. This includes providing for their immediate financial needs, ensuring they will have the means to receive an education, and so forth, but often the very first question these… Read More »