Estate Planning

Does your aging parent have a comprehensive estate plan in place? Comprehensive means that, while it likely involves the establishment of a will, there are other critical estate planning documents in place as well. A comprehensive estate plan can be important at any age, but may become even more critical as we age. With age, we tend to become more reliant on others to look out for us and, in some cases, provide us with the care and support we need to stay safe and healthy.

Moving can be a great adventure! Sometimes a change of scenery and a new place to grow roots can be the start to an exciting new chapter of your life. As you embark on your fresh start, you likely have a long list of things to get done. There will be the logistics of settling into your new home. It may include updating your driver’s license and vehicle tags. It may include updating your mailing address.

Estate planning includes much more than plans for after you die. In fact, many important legal tools that are included in a comprehensive estate plan provide protection for you and your wishes while you are still alive. The health care surrogate and power of attorney documents are two such examples.
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While you might not necessarily think of estate tax is a hot news topic, it has been recently. This has been, in large part due to the “For the 99.5% Act” that Senator Bernie Sanders proposed on March 25, 2021. The sweeping changes in

The personal representative of an estate has a lengthy list of important tasks to accomplish in probate proceedings. In fact, while probate is the court-supervised process that follows in the wake of a person’s death, the personal representative is instrumental in helping to ensure that probate goes smoothly, that everything needed gets done, and that things get accomplished without undue delays and complications. Personal representatives play a significant role in the administration of the estates they are appointed to oversee.

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Have you ever heard of the elective share? While many have not, it can have significant impact on a person’s estate plan. Established in state legislatures across the U.S.
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The Do It Yourself, DIY, craze persists in the U.S. People are engaging in DIY home renovations, DIY life hacks, DIY arts and crafts, and so much more. What about DIY Read more . . .

Congratulations on checking off a vital task on your to-do list! Estate planning puts legal tools in place that will protect both you and your family. The sense of relief and peace of mind that can come with putting a strong estate plan in place can be great. You may have designed a will that distributes your property as you wish after you pass away.
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Giving back to causes that are important to you may be a priority. If there are charities whose mission you support, providing them with financial resources to continue pursuing their goals can be fulfilling in so many ways. In addition to bringing you joy and a feeling that you are contributing something bigger than yourself, there can be other benefits of charitable giving. These benefits, however, can vary depending on how you do the giving. For instance, have you ever heard of charitable giving through an estate plan? By using different Read more . . .

Where do you live? It sounds like a simple enough question, but the more you really dive into it with some people, it can get more complicated than anticipated. With many people owning multiple properties in different states, and sometimes even splitting time evenly between them, what is considered to be the permanent residence or “domicile” can be difficult to determine. A person’s domicile is considered to be the place where he or she lives with an intent to permanently stay. There is no uniform way of defining or determining domicile and, often, a number of different factors will be considered in its determination. In some states, you can even file a Declaration of Domicile in order to formally establish your intent to make a certain location your domicile.
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Prenuptial agreements, or “prenups,” seem to have developed a bad reputation over the years. Allegations of dooming a marriage or preparing for a divorce before the marriage has even begun have become intertwined with the concept of a prenup. A prenuptial agreement, however, can be an extremely valuable legal tool. While there may be controversy surrounding prenups, we invite you to look past the common misconceptions surrounding them. Prenups have many uses, even in the Read more . . .