When you want to leave an inheritance to your children after you are gone, you usually just leave outright distributions to them. However, when you leave outright distributions to your children, those bequests are fully available to your children’s lawsuits, …
Articles
Be Aware of Administration Costs
When you decide to have your estate plan prepared, it can be a stressful experience. You have to make decisions about what you want to happen to you if you became mentally disabled. You have to make difficult end-of-life decisions …
How to Protect your Property From Yourself
If you are like most people, you are concerned about what happens to your property after you become “old and funny.” You have worked hard your entire life to accumulate what you have and you want to make sure it …
Buying a Home
You may be looking to buy a new home. A common mistake many people make after finding a home they like, is to sign a purchase agreement, also called an offer to purchase, and then bring the signed agreement to …
Joint Ownership Fraught With Peril
Many people, including most married couples, use joint ownership of their assets as their own self-made mini estate plan. Sometimes joint ownership works to transfer assets upon death. Quite often joint ownership does not work because a joint owner gets …
IRAs & Beneficiaries
Most people name individuals as direct beneficiaries of their IRAs or other retirement plans. However, by naming a qualified trust as a beneficiary, your heirs could not only save taxes, but also have creditor and other protections. Qualified trusts are …
Medicaid Eligibility-Top 8 Mistakes
1. Thinking it’s too late to plan. It’s almost never too late to take planning steps, even after a senior has moved to a nursing home. 2. Giving away assets too early. First, it’s your money (or your house, or …
Is Equal Fair
Most parents want to treat their children fairly in giving lifetime gifts or a share of the parents’ estate. Many children believe that they are “entitled” to equal lifetime gifts and equal shares of their parent’s estates. However in this …
Disability and Financial Powers of Attorney
Have you ever thought about what would happen to your real estate, bank accounts, investments and other property (your “stuff”) if you could not take care of them because of incapacity due to an accident, illness or injury? How would …
Planning for tragedies makes a big difference
Many people think of estate planning as death planning. However, estate planning also includes lifetime planning which would be making sure that you are taken care of in the event you became incapacitated and also that your property is taken …