Recent Blog Posts
What To Do If You Don’t Know Whether Your Recently Deceased Family Member Wrote A Will
The probate process, in which the court accounts for a recently deceased person’s assets, gives creditors a chance to seek payment of debts from the deceased person’s estate, files a tax return on behalf of the estate, and distributes the deceased person’s assets to the deceased person’s heirs, depends on whether the decedent wrote… Read More »
Which Source Of Retirement Income Should You Tap Into First?
Financial planners often start their sessions with new clients by asking them how much money they want to spend in retirement. Economics professor Laurence Kotlikoff thinks this approach is wrongheaded, because you can only spend as much as you have, so it is useless to think about how much money you want without first… Read More »
An Economist’s Retirement Planning Advice
Laurence Kotlikoff has been spreading the word about economics and encouraging the public to think like economists since Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics were children. Kotlikoff even ran for president in 2012 and 2016, not because he thought he would get more votes than the major parties’ candidates but just to drive… Read More »
How To Prevent Estranged Relatives From Becoming Lost Heirs
At your first meeting, an estate planning lawyer will tell you with a smile that estate planning is about planning for life, not planning for death. As you get deeper into details, though, you will realize that estate planning is also about not leaving messes for the people you care about to clean up… Read More »
3 Inherited Assets That Are Worse Than Clutter
If there is anyone who has a reason to declare war on clutter, it is estate planning lawyers. When family members battle it out in probate over money or real estate that each party thinks that they are entitled to, someone gets the inheritance, and the probate lawyers get paid. When it comes to… Read More »
Lady Bird Deeds And Florida Estate Planning Law
If you are financially secure enough to think about your estate plan but not so wealthy that you are part of the one percent, your home is probably the most valuable thing you own. No one wants their family to have to go through an expensive and stressful probate process, so a big part… Read More »
4 Things You Should Ditch When You Retire
If you are planning to retire in the next few years, you may have visited a financial planner, and if you did, the financial planner probably tried to sell you all kinds of financial products. A little voice in your head probably told you that you don’t need any of the things the financial… Read More »
Preparing Your Bedroom For Aging In Place
Downsizing your house for retirement is not for everyone. Some people dream of ditching the McMansion where they raised their children and from which they commuted to toil in corporate America and moving into a tiny house in a senior living community where egrets pass by every morning to feast on worms in the… Read More »
Estate Planning For Newlyweds
According to Yahoo Finance, only 52 percent of adults have a life insurance policy, and only 46 percent have a will. This might be unsurprising, given that few of us have a net worth large enough to fight over in probate. It is more surprising, however, when we consider that the COVID-19 pandemic has… Read More »
For A Stress-Free Retirement, Focus Your Efforts On Debt Repayment Now
Hurricane shutters are expensive. Another cockroach crawled under the door? Not another hole in the patio screen! And don’t even get started talking about the mortgage payments! Home ownership has plenty of hassles, but for the annoyance your house causes you, there are dozens of people who can only wish that they had that… Read More »