Estate planning attorneys get asked a lot of questions about how to protect every different kind of family and situation, but the questions that are asked the most tend to be about trusts. The topic comes up so often, in fact, that it is useful to review basic trust information occasionally, as author John Ventura […]
Read moreIf you’re wondering exactly how much you’ll have to put in the bank to live comfortably when you retire, you’re not alone. But it just got a little bit easier. You now have the recently updated retirement calculator and guide, “Taking the Mystery Out of Retirement Planning”, provided by Uncle Sam himself, to help you […]
Read moreYou’ve met with an attorney, you’ve signed a trust, and you’ve brought copies of it home with you in a nice-looking binder . . . Now what? Are you done? Well, not quite. The very last step of completing an estate plan is to fund your trust. Funding is the process of putting all of your property […]
Read moreMost of us, when we think about divorce, tend to think about people in court, couples fighting, and moving trucks pulling away from the family home; very few people going through a divorce think about their estate plan. But the fact is that you may well need to or want to put your signature on […]
Read moreI always explain to our clients that their Advance Healthcare Directive is a very personal document. It is because it details your wishes for your personal care, including your desire for pain relief, blood transfusions, and life-saving procedures, just to name a few. But it doesn’t have to stop there; your Advance Healthcare Directive can also be […]
Read moreYou may have read in one of our previous posts about some of the various options available for distribution of your personal property after your death. Apparently, our firm and our readers are not the only people thinking about the possibility of such a scenario. Anne Tergesen, in her article Divvying Up the Silver, writes […]
Read moreIf you have thought about your final wishes at all, you have probably thought about who you want to be the beneficiary of your property upon your death; your spouse, your children, or maybe your grandchildren. But as estate planning attorneys, we will ask you to think a little beyond that, to plan for what […]
Read moreI recently visited a friend in the hospital. The visit reminded me that we plan for vacations, we plan for retirement, but sometimes the most important thing to plan for is the one you don’t know is coming. Very few of us expect to have an extended stay in the hospital, but this shouldn’t stop […]
Read moreHave you ever watched a group of children divvying up a stash of sweets? The process can be the most civilized thing you will ever witness, or it can resemble a pack of wild dogs descending on a fresh kill. The process of distributing the personal effects of a deceased family member can fall within […]
Read moreThey say that opposites attract, which means that you and your spouse probably have varied interests and talents that complement each other and make it easier to share household tasks; one of you cooks and the other cleans, one of you does the outdoor chores and the other the indoor chores. Chances are good that […]
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