What Does Incapacitated Mean in Elder Law & Estate Planning? (Part 1)
You’ll likely come across the term “incapacitated” while planning with an attorney for your future and addressing challenges that may come along with aging. In this post, I’ll write about how incapacity is defined as well as what can cause it, and next week I’ll write about what this concept means in relation to elder …
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Estate Planning Pitfall: You Didn’t Retitle Assets to be Included in a Trust
Using a trust as part of your estate plan can be beneficial in a number of ways, including maximizing tax code provisions to shield assets from gift and estate taxes, protecting assets from creditors or ex-spouses, or helping heirs be more responsible with their inheritance. Revocable living trusts can be a vital part of your …
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Is Estate Planning One of Your New Year's Resolutions? Nine Questions to Get You Started (Part 2)
In the last post, I shared 9 questions you can ask yourself to begin creating your estate plan. After you have answered these questions, here are the next steps you can take to get your estate plan in writing: The Next Step Although the specific documents you use to create your estate plan may vary …
Is Estate Planning One of Your New Year's Resolutions? Nine Questions to Get You Started (Part 1)
People often start the New Year with goals for themselves for the year such as improving their health or writing a book. Making a last will and testament or other estate planning documents is also a common goal at the start of the year. How can you begin this process? To begin, it’s important to …
Talking to your children about your estate plan
A key part of the smooth implementation of your estate plan is having a conversation with your children where you are open and transparent about your plan. Having this conversation with them can help prevent future conflicts and can give them more confidence to know what to do when needed. Although it might be much …
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Estate Planning for Your Furry Friends (Part 2)
In the last post, I began writing about including care for your pet as part of your estate plan. One option for doing this is to establish a pet trust. A pet trust is a type of trust established for the care of one or more animals that outlive their owners. Pet trusts are recognized …
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Estate Planning for Your Furry Friends (Part 1)
Often, pet owners consider their pets to not just be their most valuable possessions but to be members of their family. Those who own pets want to do all they can to care for their animals, so it is important to consider what may happen if your pet outlives you and to have a plan …
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Why not include charitable bequest in estate plan? (Part 2)
In the last post, I shared several reasons people often have for not including a charitable bequest in their estate plan. Here are five more reasons people may have for not including this as part of their estate plan along with reasons why a charitable bequest might be a better option than one may realize: …
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Why not include charitable bequest in estate plan? (Part 1)
According to a number of surveys, about 60% of Americans give to charity annually. However, less than 10% of wills and estate plans include a charitable bequest. Here are some common reasons people may have for not including a charitable bequest in their estate plan as well as why making this a part of your …
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Estate Planning Pitfall: You Missed the Estate Tax Filing Deadline
It is unlikely that you need to be reminded of April 15th (or the next business day if the due date falls on a weekend or holiday) being the tax filing deadline date as we are often reminded of this date every year. However, if you are the person serving as executor of your loved …
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