While everyone needs an estate plan, demographics show that women in particular should take steps to address the matter. Living Longer & Needing Care On average, women live five years longer than men. This means women have to face a few realities: (1) they are more likely to…
The first time you meet with your estate planning attorney can be stressful and emotional. Many people go into the meeting not knowing what to expect. In order to make your first meeting as painless and hassle free as possible, here are a few things to consider ahead of time…
Newly proposed IRS regulations meant to curb common estate and gift tax planning tactics is being met with a firestorm of resistance from financial advisers and estate planners across the country. The proposed regulations (REG-163113-02) place limitations on the use of current valuation discounts that reduce the overall value of…
Many people believe that estate planning is primarily a tool to minimize taxes by the state and ensure that your assets are passed on to the people you want them to go to. However, an important part of estate planning is ensuring that when you are incapacitated that your wishes…
Most people plan their estate believing that everyone they have left money or bequests to will survive them, such as when a parent specifies that money or property will be left to a child. But sometimes unexpected deaths happen and when it does, many people are left wondering what will…
There are many ways to pass on your assets without having to go through probate. Any account or policy with a beneficiary designation, payable on death clauses or joint ownership with rights of survivorship will not be considered to be a part of a probate estate. Those assets will pass…
2016 will not relent in claiming high profile celebrities. This week’s death was as tragic as it was needless. Anton Yelchin, aged only 28, an only child, was killed in his Hollywood home’s driveway when his Jeep rolled down a slope and pinned him between a brick wall and the…
One of the many goals of estate planning is to limit the amount of fighting that will occur once a person passes on, and there are many ways to achieve that goal. Often this involves making sure that all the proper requirements are observed when executing documents, careful drafting of…
NOT AS USEFUL BUT STILL GOOD TO HAVE This blog has explored the issues revolving around an ABC trust in the past and how its previously primary reason for existence is now no longer a consideration for many people. The primary reason for their existence was to ultimately lowering the…
MODERN PROBLEM WITH ANCIENT ROOTS New York is one of approximately 19 states, along with the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands to specifically adopt the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act in some significant form or another. The law was drafted in 1940 and amended through the decades, last time…