Summer is now in full swing after the end-of-the-school-year excitement and celebrations for recent high school grads! Many parents will soon begin the process of preparing their young adult for college, including spending lots of time (and money!) at Bed, Bath & Beyond purchasing items for the dorm room, classes, and extracurricular activities. In […]
Five Questions to Ask Before Creating an Irrevocable Trust
Some of the most frequent questions I hear from clients in my estate planning law practice have to do with whether they should create an irrevocable trust. Here are five questions to ask when deciding whether or not an irrevocable trust would be a good addition to your estate planning strategy. What is your reason […]
An Estate Planning Lesson from Roseanne Barr?
Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the decision to cancel the Roseanne show following Roseann Barr’s racist tweet of last month, I think everyone can agree that her failure to be thoughtful about her actions led to her downfall and the downfall of her very successful show. While there may be debate about […]
Five Estate Planning Tips for Newlyweds or Engaged Couples
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle while nibbling on scones and sipping tea in the early hours of last Saturday morning. In both the back-story and the visuals, it was a fairy tale come to life, which is not something you see every day. All of that wedded […]
Estate Plans go Hand in Hand with Travel Plans
Vacation season is upon us, and in my experience, the prospect of boarding a plane is a great motivator to review my estate plan. Although (in 31 years of practice) I have not lost a vacationing client, I understand the anxiety that vacation travel can provoke. If you are planning a vacation this summer and […]
Five Ways to Get Yourself in Trouble when Serving as a Fiduciary of a Will or Trust
A fiduciary is a person who stands in a position of trust to one or more other people typically with respect to the safeguarding or management of assets. For example, the person you name to carry out your wishes in your Will (Personal Representative) or under your Trust (Trustee) is a fiduciary. This is important […]
A Panoramic Primer on Probate: Part Two – Marshalling Assets
Upon receipt from the Court of the Letters of Authority appointing a person as Personal Representative (PR) of the decedent’s estate in an informal or formal probate, the PR has the authority to begin taking action with regard to the assets of the estate. These “probate assets” (owned in the decedent’s individual name which do […]
5 Things That Can Derail Your Estate Plan
As we often tell our clients, although you would like your estate plan to last forever, it probably won’t. Things change, laws change, family circumstances change, and your estate plan needs to change with it if you want it to continue to accomplish your planning goals. For most people these goals include making sure the […]
What does a Snowstorm have to do with Estate Planning?
The snows and no-snows of March set me to thinking about disruption. When I was a kid, waking up to a foot of snow was one of the most joyful events of my life – especially if it happened on school day. As an adult, I have the opposite reaction. In fact when I looked […]
Five Things to Consider Before You Make Your Child an Owner of your Home
Clients often tell me that they want to transfer their house to their children or add a child’s name to their deed because they want to protect the property from a forced spend down or a Medicaid lien in the event they need long-term care. However this is not an action that should be taken […]