When Father Time Catches Up With Our Parents
We all expect it to happen eventually. Our parents getting older. Not just older chronologically, but physically and mentally older as well. When these turn of events happen, there may also come a time when your parents will need more care than you can provide on your own. They may eventually need in-home care, or an assisted living facility, or even a nursing home. Are you prepared? In this article you will find out the steps you should take to secure your parents future, as well as your own. Also discussed is your ability to help them plan now for these eventual needs and help them prepare for this next stage in life when the time comes.
How to Avoid Estate Planning Minefields: You Don't Know What You Don't Know
Some things seem like they should be easy--and they are easy. However, the problem with some complex responsibilities is that they may seem simple on the surface, yet they may be very difficult in reality. This is equally true for estate planning. However, experts can spot the hidden problems which the ordinary person may not. This article looks at the problems one couple had when they opted to use do-it-yourself estate planning software instead of consulting with an attorney. There was a hidden minefield that caused everything the family had worked for to be lost to an ex-spouse. Something that could easily have been avoided had they consulted with an experienced estate planning attorney. Find out what some of the most common estate planning minefields are and how you can avoid them.
Preserving Your Independence
As we get older, it often seems that time accelerates. Where does all the time go? Aging is a normal part of life. Unfortunately, as we age later in life we are no longer as able-bodied as when we were younger. What would happen if your health took a turn for the worst? This article discusses planning for the future using a Medicaid Income Only Trust. This type of trust can help preserve your financial independence, but there are certain guidelines that must be followed. Plan to protect your independence, see a qualified estate planning and elder law attorney today and discuss your options.
Pet Planning - Not Just for the Rich and Eccentric
When people think of someone setting up a Trust for their pet, they might imagine Leona Helmsley's pet Maltese named Trouble drinking Perrier from a crystal bowl in a lavish Manhattan penthouse. However, you don't have to be rich and eccentric to set up a Pet Trust to care for their beloved pet(s). Pet Trusts are most commonly set up by caring individuals who just want to make sure that their non-human family member is taken care of in the event of their own death or disability. This article discusses the 3 easy steps necessary to set up a Pet Trust for your furry and feathered family members. Remember, without you planning for them in advance, they may face the same awful fate that awaits so many other orphaned pets. You will sleep better knowing that they will continue purring or wagging their tail even if you're no longer able to care for them.
A New Tax and Retirement Opportunity in 2010
We all know the importance of saving for retirement. However, those earning above $100,000 have had one retirement saving opportunity denied to them: the Roth IRA. If you fall into this category, you are now in luck! Beginning in 2010, there is no income limitation for converting from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. There are two methods to get money into a Roth IRA: Contributing money to the Roth IRA or converting a regular IRA to a Roth IRA. The rules are different depending on which method is used. In this article, you will learn how a Roth IRA works and the advantages you may gain if you convert. A Roth IRA can be a great way to save for retirement. But remember, these and other valuable assets in your estate are governed by beneficiary designations. A qualified estate and retirement planning attorney, who focuses their practice in that area, can help tailor an estate plan that coordinates the beneficiary designations and can help you decide whether switching to a Roth IRA is right for you.
Taking Care of Rover After You're Gone
Your pet may have been with you for years and provided companionship and support. We plan for our human families, like our children, but oftentimes forget about our pets or assume someone will take on their care. However, if we do not make arrangements for our pets, they may join the hundreds of thousands of sad pets who end up in shelters, or worse, are euthanized because of their owners' death or disability. These loving, vulnerable members of your family need you to plan for them, too. This article discusses how a Pet Trust can help you provide for your pet when you are no longer able to offer care and support.
Caring for Your Spouse....Even After You're Gone
Do you worry about caring and providing for your ailing spouse and making sure their needs are met, after you are gone? This article describes how a Testamentary Special Needs Trust is one estate planning strategy that can help you do exactly that. Learn how you can plan now to help your spouse qualify for financial assistance for their future medical and nursing home costs, while preserving your assets for other expenses or "luxuries" that your spouse may need, which are not covered by government benefits.
Trustee: an Honor and a Responsibility
Being named a Successor Trustee in your loved one's Trust is both an honor and a responsibility. It is the Successor Trustee's responsibility to administer the Trust and make many important decisions. In this article, we learn that some of those decisions may seem deceptively simple, however, the consequences of any hasty decisions could cause increased taxes and lost opportunities. Learn why it is important to consult a qualified estate planning attorney in order to prevent costly errors.
Protecting Your Children from Our Litigious Society
How can you protect your children and their inheritance from litigation? This article explains how some innovative trust, the Family Sentry Trust and the Family Access Trust can help.
Legacy Planning: A Holistic Approach
This article looks at the latest developments in estate planning: "Legacy Planning." Legacy Planning focuses on the values and guidance to be relayed to future generations, not just wealth. The article discusses The Family Wealth Trust and its two subtrusts, the Family Access Trust and the Family Sentry Trust and how they can protect the beneficiaries from divorce and creditors.
Planning for Unforeseen Circumstances
The article examines the importance of drafting flexibility into your estate plan to adjust for changes in values, circumstances, and interests.
Learn from Anna Nicole's Mistakes
The article examines Anna Nicole's Will and that she did not update it upon major changes in her life: death of a son, birth of a daughter, commitment ceremony to Howard K. Stern. It suggests that the reader learn from these mistakes and be sure to update their plan periodically.
Your 401k or IRA: A Problem Asset?
The article looks at IRAs and 401ks and how we need to save for retirement. Then it looks at the tax problems these plans create. It examines the stretch out available with the FRPT. It also examines using distributions to fund life insurance.
How to Leave a Mess to Your Heirs
This article examines several common mistakes that create a mess for heirs: Lifetime Transactions without counsel (such as adding people on title to realty), Failure to Plan, and Failure to Communicate. The article poses the problem and then offers a solution to each.
To Roth or Not to Roth, That is the Question
The article examines the Roth IRA and recent developments that have expanded the concept, such as the Roth 401(k) and the ability to convert from a regular IRA in 2010.
A New Way to Give
This article examines new opportunities for charitable giving directly from an IRA.
Do You Want Your Spouse to Lose Your Biggest Asset?
The article examines how beneficiary designations must be coordinated in order to have an effective estate plan. It looks at the story of a woman who forgot to change her beneficiary designations. As a result her husband of 20 years did not get her retirement plan proceeds.
Planning With Retirement Assets
The article looks at retirement planning and looks at a few strategies such as ROTH conversion, paying the tax, giving to charity, etc.
Dealing with Aging Parents
The article examines how the parents took care of the kids and how the kids then take care of the parents. It looks at the need to plan in advance for wealthy parents (estate tax reduction), not so wealthy parents (Medicaid planning), and any parents (powers of attorney, etc.).
Study Shows Most Americans Unprepared
This article examines the percentage of Americans with various basic estate planning documents and explains each document.
Common Mistakes in Estate Planning
People make many mistakes in estate planning. Several examples of mistakes are given, including procrastination, failure to update, improper fiduciary choices, leaving assets outright, etc.
Privacy Protections: Don't Be Overprotected
Recent federal laws and regulations have created new privacy protections for your medical information. These laws are known as "HIPAA" (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Now physicians, hospitals, health insurers, and other "covered entities" must comply with strict rules or face fines and potential criminal penalties. An innocent mistake would incur a fine of $100. More serious breaches of privacy, such as releasing information for malicious harm, could result in fines of up to $250,000 and 10 years in prison. Understandably, health care providers are being extremely careful about the release of medical information in the face of such penalties.
Common Asset Protection Mistakes in Estate Planning
We all know that estate planning includes decisions about what should happen to our assets upon our death or disability. However, people often overlook asset protection issues and strategies in the estate planning process. Asset protection is the shielding of assets from potential creditors and others.
If You Really Love Me, Don't Leave Me Anything!
This sounds like an odd statement, but it may be very accurate. Leaving assets directly to children or other beneficiaries may cause them problems which could be easily avoided or reduced by leaving them the assets in trust rather than outright. Even if the child is a very capable adult, it is often better to leave the assets in trust. The child can receive the assets in trust and could be trustee of that trust. As trustee, the child could invest the assets as desired, could purchase a home with trust assets and live in it, and could even start a small business. All of this can be done while leaving the assets in the trust. Further, as trustee, the child could make distributions needed for his or her health, education, maintenance and support, or that of his or her own children. Finally, the child can be given a power to determine who should get any remaining assets at his or her own death.
Why Women Hold the Keys to Successful Estate Planning
Some people still assume that, when it comes to financial and legal matters, women are not key players. However, this is entirely inaccurate. Women are most likely to be highly involved and greatly affected by estate planning. In recent generations, women have taken on a larger role in the financial arena. The number of women in the workplace has tripled in the last fifty years. Meanwhile, the real median income of women has increased by sixty-three percent, while that of men has declined by six percent in the same period. This income shift changes the family dynamics and gives women a greater voice in financial matters. According to a recent survey, women have an equal say in major financial decisions in seventy-five percent of households. In homes where one partner is solely responsible for financial decisions, women outnumber men in that role by a four to three margin.
Planning Reduces Stress in Times of Tragedy
The recent tragic events in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania have shaken each of us to the core. We look at the horrific images of destruction and misery surrounding us and they speak to us in a personal way. Many Americans have flocked to churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship seeking answers to questions regarding the meaning of life and the existence of suffering.
Tax-Deferred Annuities: Who is Taxed Upon the Annuitant's Death?
Many people own tax-deferred fixed annuities these days. They provide a way to defer income taxation on the investment growth until distributions are taken. But most people who own tax-deferred annuities are unaware of how an annuity is taxed if no distributions are taken before the annuitant's death. This lack of knowledge can lead to unintended results.
Estate Planning: Minimizing Taxes Is Only Part of the Equation
When our national or state law-making bodies begin talking about decreasing or increasing estate taxes, a flood of reaction pours out in anticipation. Throughout our history of legislation, there have been few moments of anticipation worth the hoopla. Estate taxation laws are rarely changed for the benefit of the taxed. Yet every time a change is proposed, many people delay, or entirely ignore proper estate planning in anticipation of what never happens.
Insurance and Estate Taxes: Two Sides of the Coin
Life Insurance can be an integral part of proper estate planning in several ways.
An effective Estate Plan maximizes the value of the estate. Transferring life insurance policies from an estate may assist in reaching that goal. Life Insurance also can be used to pay the estate taxes that cannot otherwise be avoided. Life insurance becomes a two-sided coin in estate planning.
Don't Get Scammed . . . Get Smart
Estate planning has been in the news lately with stories on CNN and articles in Time, Money, and Fortune. Many of these stories have focused on the use of living trusts. It's important to remember that there are several types of trusts - some are legal, many are not. It is also important to know what those illegitimate trusts are and why you want to avoid them. Not only is using one of these trusts illegal, but you could end up losing your money and paying taxes, interest, and fees in addition to any civil or criminal penalties.
But Wait, There's More: The Importance of Trust Administration
Many people probably think that once they have an estate plan in place their needs have been met. They are ready to move on, and feel secure in the knowledge that when they die their estate will be handled according to their wishes. To some extent this is true. Your wishes will be carried out and you will save your family time and money, but setting up the plan is only the beginning of the estate planning process. It is imperative that you review your plan regularly with your estate planning attorney. Buying or selling property, getting divorced, significant changes in income, and many other life-changing circumstances can impact your estate plan. In addition to regularly updating your plan while you are living, someone must be selected to manage the plan after you die. Trust administration is a vitally important and often misunderstood (or ignored) aspect of an estate plan that includes a trust. Trust administration allows for the orderly settling of the decedent's legal and financial affairs, including the disbursement of assets to the trust beneficiaries.
The Grass Looks Greener on the Other Side of the Inexpensive Estate Plan
"Valuation planning is a significant part of estate planning used to reduce estate or gift taxes. Valuation planning illustrates the age-old concept that ""you get what you pay for"" in estate planning, as well as in any other endeavor. The method of determining the value of the property is extremely important because estate and gift taxes are imposed on the value given, whether a gift or a bequest. It is equally important to use valuation planning to reduce the taxable value."
Estate Planning for Your Grandchildren's Education
Many grandparents want to help provide funds for the education expenses of their grandchildren. With the increased value of the stock market over the last several years, many grandparents have more discretionary resources available to provide such support.
The question is: How do you do it? There may be delicate family issues involved. Perhaps the grandparents' children are not financially responsible, causing the grandparents to have a natural concern about giving money to their children for the educational expenses of the grandchildren.
Making Sense of the New Tax Law
This 1,200-word article explains the broad impact of the Taxpayer Relief Act. It highlights the changes to estate taxes and capital gains taxes and provides new information on IRAs and tax breaks for homeowners.
Estate Planning and Marriage the Second Time Around
Today in 30 percent of the more than 2.3 milion marriage ceremonies performed each year, at least one of the partners has been there before. And in many of these remarriages, there are children from a previous marriage. This trend can make proper estate planning even more critical, and helps explain why the QTIP Trust is growing in popularity, as this article reveals.
Divorce, Taxes and Your Estate Plan
Over a million Americans will untie the knot this year, about half as many as those who say I do. While most in the throes of divorce are too caught up with the business at hand to think of the long-term estate-tax consequences, this article shows why they should keep their estate plans in mind as they negotiate their settlements. Otherwise, the newly divorced may well find the experience even more taxing than it needs to be.
When Do-It-Yourself Estate Planners Have Fools for Clients
As a growing number of Americans use software or do-it-yourself kits to do their own esate planning, many are finding that the end results are far from what they'd hoped. With several real-life case studies of do-it-yourself disasters, this article addresses the problems that consumers face when they try to avoid legal counsel for this most important task.
Estate Planning Tips for Divorced or Remarried Parents
In this era of divorce, remarriage and blended families, estate planning takes on special implications. This timely article presents estate planning guidelines parents need to know to protect their children and a new spouse.
What GLBT Couples Need: Estate Planning
This article addresses the estate planning need of an often affluent - and frequently neglected - market segment. Gay couples need to implement estate planning strategies to achieve what married couples take for granted as an operation of law. This article explores both the problems and the solutions that GLBT couples face.
What Every Consumer Should Know About Probate
Just what is probate? It's a legal process used to dispose of your property when you die. If you own property in your own name, then probate will be required whether you die with a will or without one. Probate is also used to determine your fate and manage your affairs if you should become incapacitated and unable to do so for yourself.
What Every Senior Should Know About Probate
Why Seniors have even better reasons than most to avoid Probate is the subject of this article.
