Beneficiary Designations: Pitfalls to Avoid
You might think that leaving your property to your heirs would be easy. You make a will or a trust, you do a transfer-on-death deed for your real estate, you put your kids on your bank account, you designate beneficiaries for your life insurance and retirement accounts, and you’re done. If only things were that […]
Ensure Your End-of-Life Wishes Are Followed by Preparing a Power-of-Attorney
Attorney’s prepare powers-of-attorney documents for clients in order to communicate their wishes and delegate an entrusted person to make decisions on the clients’ behalf when their clients no longer can. But when it comes to actually using those documents at the time of a healthcare crisis, clear and powerful documents are just the beginning. The […]
New Tax Law Proposal May Have a Significant Impact on Estate Planning
A new tax law proposal greatly impacting estate planning may soon be enacted into law. While it is too early to know what will become law, the House Ways & Means Committee tax plan draft indicates that change is coming soon. While new details emerge and changes are made to the proposals over the coming […]
A Trust Has Many Benefits
A trust is a great mechanism for handling estate business and it can be beneficial to anyone with any number of assets. You want to keep your affairs private and stay out of probate court? Maybe you have stepchildren? You want to leave money to your favorite charities? Or you own a small business and […]
How to Incorporate Cryptocurrency Into Your Estate Plan
Cryptocurrency is a digital asset and as such needs to be addressed differently than traditional estate planning assets. Crypto-assets may comprise significant individual wealth in the forms of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and noncurrency blockchain tokens. If you own any of these asset classes, addressing complex challenges to secure, transfer, protect and ultimately gift crypto-asset wealth […]
The Importance of Clear End-of-Life Care Instructions
You would hope your living will is properly prepared and your resuscitation instructions or DNR (do not resuscitate) are in order. While your wishes in a living will may be appropriately documented, that does not guarantee the instructions will be carried out as you stated. The frightening truth is that mistakes about your end-of-life instructions […]
How Do I Know if I Need a Trust?
This article will help you decide if a trust fits your particular circumstances. For example, maybe you have a disabled child and you want a trust to permit that child to inherit without losing government benefits. Maybe your own or your spouse’s health is heading into difficulties, and you can foresee eventually needing long-term care […]
Power of Attorney (POA) Documents Are Essential
It is critical to have iron-clad “power of attorney” documents for when you are no longer able to manage your financial or healthcare matters. Beware if you rely only on POAs that hospitals provide, or that you have pulled off the Internet, or that you have got from other attorneys who do not focus their […]
It Is Essential for Seniors to Prepare an Estate Plan
It makes sense that more aging Americans have completed wills and estate plans compared to younger Americans. Still, a significant number — 19 percent of those over age 72 and 42 percent of those between 53 and 71, according to survey data — lack any type of estate plan. Although managing these details can seem […]
The Importance of a Health-Care Power of Attorney
If we want our dying to be meaningful and merciful, it is imperative that we think about it while we still can. Most of us want to die at home, in a familiar and peaceful setting surrounded by loved ones. We would much rather not spend our last moments in an emergency room or ICU, […]