It is important to lay all of your cards on the table as it were when you are devising an estate plan with your attorney's assistance. Some individuals have aspects of their lives that are not common knowledge to all family members. How you conduct your life is your own business, but if you want your estate to be administered smoothly after your passing your attorney should know all of the relevant facts. There have been situations when someone has passed away and an individual steps … [Read more...] about Speak Freely With Your Lawyer
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46% Of Americans Die With Little to No Financial Resources
When people who are experts in the field attempt to get a feel for how prepared people are for retirement they generally assess the accumulation of financial assets that individuals have when they begin retirement or reach the typical retirement age. This make sense, but in the end what really matters is whether or not you had enough money to last throughout your life regardless of what you had going into retirement. Given the above it may be a better idea to analyze how much money … [Read more...] about 46% Of Americans Die With Little to No Financial Resources
Indirect Gifting Can Be Tax-Free
If you have enjoyed a significant amount of success throughout your life you may be faced with a pleasant problem of sorts. The powers that be sit poised to consume a significant percentage of the resources that you intend to pass along to your loved ones via the imposition of the estate tax if they exceed a certain amount. To prevent people from giving gifts while they are still alive in an effort to get around the estate tax there is a gift tax in place. It is said to be unified … [Read more...] about Indirect Gifting Can Be Tax-Free
Choose Representatives With Care
When you are recording your wishes in writing you must consider the fact that human beings are going to have to be involved in making those wishes come to fruition when the time is appropriate. Your choices are important and you should make them with full knowledge of the responsibilities that these representatives will be charged with after your passing. People who are using a trust to direct the transfer of assets will have to choose a trustee. The trustee will be empowered to … [Read more...] about Choose Representatives With Care
Will Your Beneficiaries Pay Taxes On Insurance Proceeds?
Tax matters are something to take into consideration when you are looking ahead toward the inevitable. With this in mind questions often arise about insurance policy proceeds. When the beneficiary receives insurance proceeds he or she will not be asked to pay Federal income tax when the transfer takes place. However, there is another tax that looms large for many individuals. If you own insurance policies personally the proceeds are considered to be part of your estate for … [Read more...] about Will Your Beneficiaries Pay Taxes On Insurance Proceeds?
Long-Term Care: Some of the Facts
According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services most Americans who are fortunate enough to reach the age 65 are going to need assistance with their day-to-day needs before it is all said and done. With this in mind preparing for the possibility of long-term care costs is a must for serious minded individuals. If you are under the impression that Medicare will take care of this you would do well to look into the matter a bit more closely. In fact, Medicare … [Read more...] about Long-Term Care: Some of the Facts
Three-Year Look-Back Proposed for Veterans A & A
Because of the fact that Medicare won't pay for long-term living assistance the Medicaid program is used by many Americans to cover long-term care costs. There is a $2,000 upper resource limit, but a lot of your valuables don't count toward this figure such as your home and your vehicles. In addition, the healthy or community spouse can keep his or her half of shared resources up to a limit that stands at $113,640 in 2012. You cannot find out that you need long-term care one day and … [Read more...] about Three-Year Look-Back Proposed for Veterans A & A
Indianapolis Estate Planning Seminars
Free advice can be a bit dangerous to accept under certain circumstances. However, sometimes genuine expertise is available to you in a readily accessible and cost-effective manner. Just such an opportunity is presenting itself over the next couple of weeks here in the Indianapolis area. Our firm is going to be presenting some very informative seminars throughout the month of September and we would like to invite all of our readers to attend. At our seminars you will find out … [Read more...] about Indianapolis Estate Planning Seminars
Legal Struggle Left Holm Estate Lacking
You might think that an actress who had the longevity and the success of Celeste Holm would leave behind quite a financial legacy. However, it is being reported that the former Academy Award winner, who passed away on July 15 at the age of 95, had exhausted most of her savings. How did this happen? It appears as though the legal struggle that she was engaged in with her two sons in the years preceding her death consumed the majority of her resources. Celeste Holm was reportedly … [Read more...] about Legal Struggle Left Holm Estate Lacking
Late Artist Kinkade's Wife, Girlfriend at Odds
Estate planning lawyers are always going to remind their clients about the need to make the appropriate estate plan revisions. There are certain life changes that make updates necessary, and one of them is a change in marital status. We can often gain insight into the pitfalls that go along with a lack of proper planning when we hear about celebrity cases. With this in mind let's take a brief look at the estate of the deceased artist Thomas Kinkade. Kinkade, the so-called … [Read more...] about Late Artist Kinkade's Wife, Girlfriend at Odds
