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Memorandum of Intent — “Babysitter Instructions”
You’ve created your estate plan. Your trust is in place, your health care directive is signed, guardians for your children have been nominated and informed. Now you can sit back, relax, and breathe a huge sigh of relief . . . except you still feel there is something missing. How will your guardians know to pay for Kevin’s […]
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Linney on “The Savages”
I love movies. Reading about Laura Linney’s interview about her role in the 2007 movie, The Savages, reminds all of us the issue of caring for aging parents. “The biggest gift you can give me is to help me figure out what to do during that period of time. If we can talk about this […]
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Dealing With Pressures of the “Sandwich Generation”
Baby-boomers aren’t called the sandwich generation for nothing. They knew they were going to have to provide for their own retirement and their children’s college education, but now they’re finding that they may have to shoulder the financial burden of their elderly parents’ final years as well. The pressure of providing for so many people at once […]
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Organize for Your Successor Trustee
If you’ve ever had to execute a deceased loved one’s estate, then you know what an overwhelming job it can be. Think about your own method of organization. Do you keep all of your financial papers in one place? Do you keep your birth and marriage certificates nearby and easily accessible? What about insurance forms, information about retirement plans […]
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Women – the Last Leaf on the Tree
Do you know who will take care of you when you no longer able to take care of yourself? According to this article in Investment News, your caregiver is likely to be a woman, and most likely to be your daughter or daughter-in-law. What this means is that unless you have a plan for your […]
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Domestic Partnership Estate Planning
According to a recent article in the New York Times, the topic of marriage and family is still being hotly debated in our country. Although some states have granted same sex couples the option to choose a “civil union” or “domestic partnership” status, many couples say it isn’t enough. Because they cannot use the term […]
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Ledger Tragedy Amplified by Outdated Will
According to this article by the Associated Press, the tragic death of actor Heath Ledger is followed by the further tragedy of a Will that was filed in Australia in 2003 and never updated to provide for his 2 year old daughter with actress Michelle Williams. The entirety of Ledger’s estate is instead left to […]
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Change Is In the Air for Estate Tax Law
It was Benjamin Franklin who said, in the late 1700s, that “in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes”; but in 2008 nothing is less certain than death taxes, a situation that the U.S. Senate is trying to remedy. In 2001, President George W. Bush introduced a tax cut that would gradually reduce […]
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Protect Yourself From Elder Financial Abuse
“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it.” ~Mark Twain Mark […]
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Leave a Lasting Legacy
Daylight Saving Time has come around again, and most Americans lost an hour Sunday morning as they set their clocks forward. As a twice-yearly, reliable institution, Daylight Saving Time is a good time to take a moment to examine parts of our lives that we may not normally consider during the day-to-day grind. This weekend […]
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