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NC and SC Estate Planning and Elder Law Firm
Monday, December 26, 2016
It’s that time of year again! Time to make New Year’s resolutions! This year, instead of vowing to shed a few pounds, which you know is a promise that will fall by the wayside within a couple weeks, why not resolve to put an estate plan in place? It’s the perfect resolution because your attorney actually does a lot of the work for you, and you will feel really relieved to have it done and over with. And as an added bonus, it’s calorie free in case you also make the same old “get in shape” resolution everyone else makes too! Why It’s Important Not To Wait To Make An Estate PlanA lot of people think that estate planning is something that can be put off until old age. That’s simply not true. Read more . . .
Monday, December 19, 2016
If you’ve spent any time at all on the internet over the past few years you will recognize this blog title as a little bit of click-bait. We aren’t going to take you to some shady corner of the internet and attempt to sell you homeopathic medicine though. We really are going to share one simple estate planning trick for avoiding taxes. Read more . . .
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Working with veterans and their families to help them get all the benefits they are eligible for teaches you a lot about the challenges our brave men and women in uniform face here on the home front. Unless you are a veteran, or the family member of a veteran, or have really gotten to know a few veterans, the struggle is difficult to grasp. A new documentary about a veteran living in North Carolina is helping to shed some light on the subject and bring awareness to it. Read more . . .
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
From the way people reacted in response to the news that veterans in California were being asked to repay benefits that they had received in error, you might get the impression that our military is a highly efficient bureaucracy that rarely makes mistakes. Unfortunately, those of us that have experience navigating the military benefits system know that is far from true. Our military is excellent at many things, but accurate bookkeeping is not one of its strengths. Why is everyone talking about military bonuses out in California?It seems that there were a couple of things that went wrong out in California. First, veterans were given reenlistment bonuses that they were not actually eligible for. Read more . . .
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Several years ago, an estate planning attorney I had met at a conference called looking for some advice. One of his clients had recently passed away very unexpectedly, and he was scrambling to help his client’s widow take control of her late husband’s business. Things weren’t going well. The widow was, understandably, overcome with grief, but she was doing the best she could. Unfortunately, she didn’t even know which keys opened the front door, let alone how to run the business on a day to day basis. Read more . . .
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
With all that has been going on in the world over the past month, it was easy to miss the fact that an interesting new lawsuit has been filed against the state of South Carolina. The fact that the state is getting sued is not news. That happens all the time. What is different about this case is that it is about whether or not an innovative new company is able to do business in South Carolina. Opternative is a Chicago-based company that allows consumers to get a prescription for glasses or contacts over the internet. Read more . . .
Monday, October 31, 2016
An All Too Real Horror Story Spoiler Alert: The following includes information about this season of the popular TV show American Horror Story: Roanoke. One of the central plots in Season 6 is recapping the actions of a pair of nurses (now ghosts) who opened an assisted living facility in North Carolina (Roanoke like the lost colony, not like the current city in case you were wondering) so they could kill people whose initials spell out their favorite word, M-U-R-D-E-R. What many people don’t realize, is that this scary story is based on a real life horror story. Catherine May Wood and Gwendolyn Gail Graham, the “Lethal Lovers,” were convicted of second and first degree murder respectively after several people under their care at a nursing home in Michigan died suspiciously. According to a New York Times article recounting the ladies’ 1988 arrests, says it was rumored that the killers were attempting to spell out the word “MURDER,” just like the ghosts in American Horror Story. Read more . . .
Monday, October 31, 2016
If you care for someone with special needs, you know your loved one is someone special. It should come as no surprise that a loved one who needs special attention and care from you during your lifetime also requires a different treatment than others included in your estate plan. Leaving money to someone who has a disability is a wonderful thing to do, but if not done properly, it can end up making them worse off. Read more . . .
Monday, October 31, 2016
There’s no doubt about it, we live in a digital world. Perhaps there is no better example of this than what happened during Hurricane Matthew. It was almost humorous to see young people try and figure out how to live unplugged for a while, but there were plenty of serious moments as well. Facebook activated its “safety check” feature which allowed people in the storm’s path to digitally signal they were doing alright, and a guy from Hope Mills, North Carolina was rescued because his brother down in Texas happened to see a picture of his flooded house, which was taken by a drone, on Twitter. Although the digital world has become an important aspect of our live, it is not something many people think about when they craft their Read more . . .
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
The probate process in North Carolina can seem like a confounding mix of statutes, regulations and jurisdiction-specific nuances enough to make anyone’s head spin. While we of course recommend working with an experienced North Carolina estate administration attorney through the process, the following addresses some of the most commonly-asked questions during consultations: What happens if my loved one died without a Will? Dying without a Last Will and Testament means the estate will pass through probate under the laws of “intestacy.” In essence, intestacy works as a statute-driven plan for the distribution of the deceased’s property, creating a de facto estate plan for the administrator to work under. Read more . . .
Monday, September 26, 2016
Q: Can I qualify for Medicaid assistance to keep my medically fragile child at home instead of in a hospital or residential care setting? When people think of Medicaid planning, they often picture low-income individuals over 65 who need medical assistance or nursing home care. But Medicaid’s medical assistance benefits are not just for the elderly; they are for the disabled, blind, or low-income families and children who qualify for the joint federal-state program. And in one particular NC waiver program some very sick children can qualify for Medicaid help regardless of their family’s income. Read more . . .
Monk Law Firm, PLLC assists clients throughout Charlotte, Rock Hill, Fort Mill and the surrounding areas.
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