Monthly Archives: February 2012
How to Prevent Family Fighting Over Mom’s Will or Trust
Most people believe that creating an estate plan is a private and personal business; something you do alone or with your spouse, between you and your attorney, with your children, grandchildren, or other beneficiaries kept on a strictly need-to-know basis. … Continue reading
How Long Has It Been Since You’ve Updated Your Estate Plan?
Many people think that there’s no need to update your estate plan documents if none of your beneficiaries or fiduciaries have changed, but that’s exactly the kind of thinking that can lead to disaster. Estate planning documents are based not … Continue reading
How To Have Fun Planning Your Estate!
Creating a will or trust, healthcare documents, powers of attorney, etc., can sometimes seem overwhelmingly sad and serious. Well, the act of protecting your loved ones is very serious, but it doesn’t have to be sad. In fact, planning your … Continue reading
How Do I Notify the VA That My Parent Passed Away?
Dealing with the death of a loved one is always hard, and putting off the settling of your parent’s affairs can make it even more difficult. If your parent received the VA Aid & Attendance pension, it is important that … Continue reading
Benefit Your Loved Ones by Bringing Life to Your Estate Plan
We often tell our clients that there is far more to a legacy than money. A will and a trust are essential documents to have—but there’s more to protecting your loved ones than just those documents. With these important documents … Continue reading
Dementia and Alzheimer’s: Is It Too Late For Mom Or Dad To Execute Legal Documents?
The question of competence has become a very big issue in the estate planning/elder law world over the past few years. As the population ages, and awareness of Alzheimer’s and dementia diagnoses grow, more and more adult children are questioning … Continue reading
Divorced Couples Can Still Benefit from Joint Estate Planning
Creating an estate plan to protect your minor children is one of the most difficult—and most important—things you will ever do; this is especially true if you and your child’s other parent are separated or divorced. Relationships don’t always end … Continue reading
VA Aid and Attendance for Legally Separated Spouses
It is clear that divorced spouses of veterans cannot receive surviving spouse benefits from Aid and Attendance, but some people may be unsure about the rules regarding spouses who were only legally separated from the veteran at the time the … Continue reading
Is It Always In Your Best Interest To Accept An Inheritance?
Most estate plans are created at least in part to protect heirs (generally spouses and children) from the sometimes devastating blow of estate taxes; but with all the recent changes to estate tax law, some plans that were drafted years … Continue reading
5 Basic Tips for Trustees
Naming someone as trustee of your living trust is quite possibly one of the most difficult decisions you’ll ever make. The trustee is involved in just about every aspect of the administration of a trust; and although it is considered … Continue reading
