Don’t Be Shy About Your Health Care Decisions
How do you want to die? Do you want lifesaving treatments to be administered even if all brain activity has ceased? Is your family aware of your wishes? And perhaps the more important question, according to the NY Times, is your doctor aware of your wishes? Included in the complete estate plan our firm provides […]
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Sibling Rivalry Goes Too Far
My son goes to college in Arizona. A disturbing precedent is being set there, where a group of siblings are having a court battle over their mother’s estate… while she’s still alive! Family members fighting over inheritance is a sad situation, but not unusual. In fact, it probably happens more often than you may think; […]
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Lincoln and Estate Planning
We just celebrated Presidents’ Day this week. Unfortunately when President Abraham Lincoln passed away on April 15, 1865 he left his family at the mercy of the state laws of inheritance and succession—because he died without a will. It is hard to imagine how Lincoln could have neglected this; after all, he was a statesman […]
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Do-It-Yourself Estate Planning? Don’t!
Is the budget too tight to pay for an expensive estate plan right now? Why not do it yourself? How hard could it be? Actually, it can be very hard—hard on your wallet when it costs you thousands of dollars to fix the mistakes in the plan you made; and especially hard on your heirs […]
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Putting off Your Estate Plan is a Grave Mistake
At a time when the economy is slow and money is tight, many people are looking to save money by cutting back on “unessential” expenses—including estate planning. Although this instinct is understandable, the trend is a disturbing one. Our firm understands the need to dig in during tough times, but what you may not realize […]
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Growing Children Need an Updated Estate Plan
Every parent knows how miraculously fast children seem to grow and develop. So many parents find themselves marveling that their child’s foot ever fit into that tiny set of infant socks, or wistfully packing up the blocks and books their child has outgrown for electronic games or more mature interests. It is cliché to say […]
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Forbes.com: The Girlfriend’s Guide to Estate Planning
Women in the United States have a unique set of estate planning needs, not the least of which has to do with the fact that they outlive their husbands by an average of 7 years, and are more likely than their male counterparts to become the family caregiver. So why is it that so few […]
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Memorial Instructions in Literature and in Life
“The Geat people built a pyre for Beowulf, stacked and decked it until it stood four-square, hung with helmets, heavy war-shields and shining armour, just as he had ordered. Then his warriors laid him in the middle of it, mourning a lord far-famed and beloved.” (From Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney) Funerals get great coverage […]
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Family Milestones
Any parent will tell you that the birth (or adoption) of a child shifts the nature of your thinking irrevocably. One day you look around and discover that your own wants and needs are no longer at the center of your life. We often see evidence of this shift in ur firm, where many of […]
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Caregiver Agreements Reduce the Burden of Caring for Elderly Family Members
Anyone serving as a caregiver for an aging relative knows that it’s hard work no matter how much you love the person to whom you are providing care and service, and in many cases it can be a severe financial hardship as well. Studies have shown that the child who serves as the primary caregiver […]
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