Category Archives: Estate Planning
Estate Planning When Life Is An Endless Series Of Crises
Matthew Erskine of the Wealth Management website writes that most professional estate planners’ approaches fall into one of two categories, which he calls the hedgehog style and the fox style. Hedgehogs excel in making careful predictions, considering all possible outcomes and determining which one is the most likely to occur, and then taking actions… Read More »
Without Witness Signatures, Your Will Is Nothing But A Bucket List Afterparty Setlist
The hardest part of estate planning is getting started. Once you type your will into a Word document and print it out, you feel a great sense of relief. Now, you have put your wishes in writing, so your family will not have to guess or argue about them. Of course, your printout isn’t… Read More »
Family Caregivers And Medicaid Eligibility
The idea of aging in place, surrounded by your closest family members in the house where you have lived for decades is a comforting thought, but aging in place is not as glamorous as it sounds. Some people stay in their family home as their ability to live independently declines because, from a financial… Read More »
Your Intangible Estate Plan
What do the French baguette, the Kalela dance of Zambia, and the khanjar, a dagger worn on the belt by Omani men during ceremonious occasions, have in common? They are all recognized by the United Nations as part of the intangible cultural heritage of the parts of the world where they originate. Intangible heritage… Read More »
The First Wives Of Florida Need An Estate Plan Now More Than Ever
Divorce is a bummer. Estate planning is also a bummer in the beginning, because it requires you to confront the fact that you have a limited amount of time left on Earth and a limited amount of money left to support you throughout it. Divorce lawyer websites make divorce look glamorous; they make it… Read More »
Skilled Nursing Facilities
Many clients walk into their initial consultation with an estate planning lawyer equipped with the name of an enemy and the lengths to which they are willing to go to keep this enemy at bay. For some clients, the enemy is the IRS, and the client has grandiose plans of transferring every item of… Read More »
Can You Afford To Retire In Florida?
More people moved to Florida in 2022 than to any other state. The recent arrivals represent all age groups. Florida has long been a popular retirement destination; the youngsters are a fairly recent addition. Conventional wisdom used to hold that, as long as you are not in Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach County, where… Read More »
Homestead Property And Your Estate Plan
Owning a house, even a modest one, gives you a sense of financial security. A lot of people reasonably fear that they will never be able to afford to retire, but if you own a house with a paid off mortgage, you do not have that worry. Not everyone who owns a house outright… Read More »
What’s New With The Annual Gift Tax Exclusion?
Once your children grow past the stage where getting a remote control car for Christmas is the pinnacle of excitement, it is best to adopt a “no gifts this year” policy. The kind of car your kids can get excited about at this stage is one for which liability insurance alone is expensive enough,… Read More »
The “Hope For The Best But Prepare For The Worst” Estate Plan
A relentless optimist would say that the most beautiful thing about being an adult and a parent is that there is always so much work to be done that you don’t have time to get upset about things that don’t really matter. You haven’t logged into Facebook since before the birth of your first… Read More »