When you think about leaving your legacy to your loved ones the first thing that crosses your mind is probably going to involve the financial aspect of the exercise. Because of the sources of asset erosion that exist such as the estate tax and the costs associated with probate, you do have to take a long hard look at the the extent and form of your assets and make sure that they are situated properly. But once you get to thinking about how you're going to prepare your assets for … [Read more...] about An Ethical Will: Heartfelt Last Words
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Portable Exclusion Part of Tax Relief Legislation
When the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 was signed into law by Pres. Obama on December 17th, the Bush era tax cuts were extended, and that was the headline news. But there were a number of additional provisions included in the measure, and one of them that is positively impacting many people is the one-year reduction of the Social Security payroll tax. There were also some provisions included in this new measure that profoundly impacted … [Read more...] about Portable Exclusion Part of Tax Relief Legislation
Estate Planning & The Realities Of Alzheimer's Disease
On the surface estate planning may seen like a pretty cut and dried matter. You make an appointment and spend some time with an estate planning lawyer, draw up a will or a trust, and that's it, end of story. This can can be the way you go about it, but if you want to be sure that you are truly prepared for all of the eventualities of aging, you would do well to take a more comprehensive approach. Ii is human nature to assume that the state of consciousness that you are in at any given … [Read more...] about Estate Planning & The Realities Of Alzheimer's Disease
Advance Directives Advised For Same Sex Couples
The fact is that most people don't pass away when they are in good health, right? So when you are planning your estate, you invariably find yourself rewinding a bit to the days, weeks, and months prior to the reading of your will. This leads to the question of how long you should expect to live. If you examine the statistics you will find that the group of Americans deemed the "oldest old," which is a term that refers to those who have reached the age of 85 and above, are the … [Read more...] about Advance Directives Advised For Same Sex Couples
Inheritance Planning: Pave The Way With Educational Gifts
When you are engaged in the process of estate planning, a large portion of the endeavor involves properly positioning your assets. You want to make sure that you have the available liquidity that you need to address any and all contingencies that may come your way, protect your assets in general, and ready them for efficient distribution to your heirs free of any undue erosion. But in addition to this financial planning there is also a human side. The planning is a two way street … [Read more...] about Inheritance Planning: Pave The Way With Educational Gifts
Long Term Care Assistance For Veterans
When you practice in the field of elder law, part of your responsibility is to keep your finger on the pulse of all of the relevant trends as they are unfolding. As estate planning professionals that action word, "planning," requires the use of long term projections. You cannot know with full certainty what the costs will be for essential services in the future. In addition, you have no way of knowing what the state of the economy will be like in twenty years, how the tax laws … [Read more...] about Long Term Care Assistance For Veterans
Remarrying? Pre-Nup, QTIP May Be The Answer
When you consider the institution of marriage as it stands in the United States in the 21st century, it is in a very real sense something different from what it once was. Of course you can't paint with a broad brush because each person has a unique perspective, but the statistics would indicate that marriage is no longer something that is permanent in the minds many people. Statistics on the subject vary, but somewhere in the neighborhood of between 40% to 50% of marriages end in … [Read more...] about Remarrying? Pre-Nup, QTIP May Be The Answer
Long Term Care Costs: Planning Required
Estate planning is usually seen as something that involves the distribution of your assets after your death, and rightly so. But the totality of the matter blends into the period of your life that precedes your passing. Why is this? To put it bluntly, if you don't have anything left when you die any planning that you may have done regarding inheritances is not going to have a whole lot of value. Obviously there are those who have sufficient assets to easily handle any and … [Read more...] about Long Term Care Costs: Planning Required
Five Wishes & Estate Planning
We never know when our time on earth will come to an end due to illness or accident, and being prepared for such an event is obviously a good idea. For those who want to be prepared in an effort to take the burden off family members in stressful emotional times, or for those who are either aging or seriously ill, the Five Wishes advance directive is an excellent option. The Five Wishes document is a living will that allows you to communicate with your family and friends about the type … [Read more...] about Five Wishes & Estate Planning
Avoid Asset Erosion With Generation Skipping Trusts
In estate planning circles you hear a lot of talk about "avoiding the estate tax" and "gaining estate tax efficiency." There are those patriotic Americans who may question this mentality, feeling as though they are more than willing to assume their fair share of the tax burden. This is an admirable stance, but the operable term here is "fair share." Let's explain by way of a very simple example. Let's say you start to put away a portion of your paycheck when you are in your … [Read more...] about Avoid Asset Erosion With Generation Skipping Trusts
