It’s that time of year to prepare and file your annual income tax returns. Most all individuals are calendar year taxpayers. You file your tax returns each year by April 15, reporting income for the previous calendar year. So this …
Articles
Creditor Protection Using Trusts
Trusts can be very effective creditor protection tools. We use them all the time for this purpose. However, there is one trust, that although it can provide fabulous creditor protection for other trust beneficiaries, it does not provide any creditor …
Common Questions about Nursing Home Medicaid Eligibility
You have spent an entire life accumulating your assets. Nursing home admission is imminent or already has happened. You do not know what to do. The nursing home said that because you are single, you only can keep a home, …
Making Your Trust Work by Funding it
We had one of our clients in this week for a trust review. She said that estate planning and trusts have been regular topics of discussion with her friends. They all have trusts which have been drafted by different attorneys. …
FHA Reverse Mortgage Rules Change
It is reported that almost every reverse mortgage that is in an amount under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) limit ($679,650 in 2018), is a federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM). Because of this, we will be limiting our …
Does Your Trust Plan Have These Options?
We regularly to get people coming into our office with existing trust-based estate plans. These plans are typically prepared by their previous divorce attorney, real estate attorney, the family lawyer or other general practitioner. When we review these plans, rarely …
Quit Claim Deeds Rarely the Best Choice
I had a client in this week for her annual review of her fully-funded trust-based estate plan. She asked me about other types of planning by acquaintances about which she has become aware, and the issues that may arise as …
9 Situations in Which Your Mortgage Lender Cannot Call Your Loan
Last week, we discussed how most all mortgage loans nowadays, including home equity loans and lines of credit, have due-on-transfer clauses, which are also call due-on-sale clauses. If ownership of the property transfers from the borrower to someone else by …
What Do We Do With the Deceased’s Home and Car Loans?
We regularly get families of the deceased come into our offices wondering if they have to pay off Mom or Dad’s mortgage or car loan. The answer is not always so simple. It is going to depend upon whether the …
How a Young Adult can Retire as a Millionaire
Are you or a loved one under age 35? For most young adults, planning for retirement is one of furthest things from the mind. But it shouldn’t be, because young adults have a very valuable asset that those of us …