Hotel magnate and “Queen of Mean” Leona Helmsley has always been a figure of controversy, both in life and after her death in 2007. Reporters and bloggers went wild when she left $12 million dollars to her dog “Trouble” in a trust fund after her death. But that $12 million (later reduced to $2 million… Read More »
Blog Posts Page 55
Retirement Fantasy Turned on its Head
People used to think that retirement was a time of placidity and relaxation, a time when all of life’s big surprises were behind you and most days and years would now bring an unchanging idyllic existence… It seems unlikely that this was ever an accurate portrayal of any phase of human existence, including retirement, but… Read More »
A Situation Such As This
A child paralyzed in a tragic accident; a spouse diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and then placed in assisted living after a terrible fall; mounting medical bills. How does one plan for a situation such as this? Kate Michelman certainly thought she and her husband had planned for every eventuality—she is a well-known and well-to-do public… Read More »
Family Business? You Might Flip For A FLP
The Wall Street Journal says that family limited partnerships are finding renewed favor as an estate planning tool, thanks to recent tax-court decisions. In an article entitled “Covering Your Assets” Journal writer Mark Klimek asserts that despite some IRS opposition, tax court rulings in recent years have endorsed the use of FLPs when they are… Read More »
A Realistic Look at the Future
How are you feeling about your retirement these days? According to Chuck Jaffe’s article in MarketWatch most people’s answer to that question is not so good. According to Jaffe, Americans are losing confidence in the market’s ability to support their retirement (with good reason), and the most common reaction to this lack of confidence is… Read More »
Will You Leave A Gift—Or A Mess?
Do you consider yourself an organized person? It seems that when it comes to organization some people have the gift for it and some people simply don’t. If you’ve ever had (or have currently) the overwhelming job of sorting through the estate of a deceased loved one, you know how very grateful you can be… Read More »
The Fine Art of Informing Your Fiduciaries
At the end of the day, when all of the decisions have been made and documents have been signed, many estate planning clients still have one question: Should I tell my Fiduciaries that I’ve nominated them as executor, healthcare agent, guardian, trustee, etc; and how much should I tell them? The answer to the question… Read More »
The Consequence of Silence
The second annual National Healthcare Decisions Day is coming up on April 16, and there has never been more reason to consider what your own wishes are, and especially to make those wishes known. As difficult as it may be to think about the end of your parent’s, your child’s or your own life, not… Read More »
The Most Important Part of Your Estate Plan
What is the most important component of an estate plan? This is a question that comes up a lot in our practice, and as you might guess, different families will have different answers. The Trust: Many families feel that this is the heart of the estate plan, and as such the most important part. … Read More »
Be Prepared
As an estate planning firm it is our job to keep our clients prepared for what’s coming. This means helping prepare them not only for the eventuality of death, but also for what is coming in life; retirement, the possibility of divorce, new children or grandchildren, and even taxes. Estate taxes especially are of great… Read More »