Category Archives: Estate Planning
Facebook Founders Use GRATs to Avoid Excessive Taxation; You Can Too
News sources recently revealed that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg—as well as other Facebook top brass—use Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts to protect their assets and investments from excessive taxation. Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (more commonly called GRATs) are a perfectly legal—and very efficient—way to protect and pass significant assets from one person to another without… Read More »
An Estate Plan Can Highlight Religious Values… Within Limits
All parents hope to pass their values onto their children; and of the many values they hope to pass on religion and spirituality often tops the list. In some cases, religious values are so important to a parent that they will even include mention of these values in their estate plan. Our firm strongly… Read More »
Avoid the Most Common Estate Planning Mistakes
In a world where bureaucracy and taxation become more present and complex every year, it has become absolutely necessary for every family to have an estate plan. Not all estate plans are created equal, however, and it takes a little bit of research—or a conversation with the right advisors—to determine which plan will be… Read More »
The Good News and The Bad News About Retirement
The good news is that Americans are living longer, the bad news is that it costs a whole lot more to retire than it used to. But the rising cost of retirement has more to do with just longer life expectancy. As this recent article in the New York Times points out, “Social Security… Read More »
Transfer of Home Ownership Does Not Replace an Estate Plan
Imagine this: You’re retired, your only significant asset is your home, you’re very close to your child or children, and you don’t want the cost of creating an estate plan. In such cases, what’s the harm of simply putting your home in the name of your child to avoid probate and then be done… Read More »
How Do You Know If You Need An Estate Plan?
Most people know that they should execute some kind of estate plan eventually, but don’t think that they actually need one right now. On our blog we spend a lot of time telling people that they do need an estate plan, and that they need one right now—or as soon as possible! But it’s… Read More »
Estate Plan Forgery: How to Tell and What to Do
The question of will forgery or undue influence of a testator is not a common question, but one that does come up periodically in an estate planner’s office. The movies have given people certain expectations when it comes to a death in the family and probating a will: a book-lined office, the entire family… Read More »
Aging In Place
As the number of people approaching their golden years grows, many people are becoming concerned about how they will stay independent and financially secure during their senior years. Rather than giving up their independence and privacy, these people plan to “age in place” – to remain where they are both financially and in the… Read More »
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. In an ideal world this would be true: parents and their adult children would… Read More »
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 only on your own wishes, but also on federal and state tax laws. When… Read More »