Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Pet Trusts Make Perfect Sense If You Apply The Law Wisely
The family members who allege that you get along better with animals than you do with people probably have a point, but your animal friends are much easier to get along with than your human relatives. If you don’t write a will, your closest surviving family members will inherit all your property when you… Read More »
Your Blended Family Is Not Complete Without An Estate Plan
We have all heard lurid stories about widows feuding with their stepchildren over their late husbands’ estate. Both sides accuse the other of using the decedent for his money, in life and in death. Usually, there is more to the story than that, though. Yes, sometimes neither side really cares about the money; they… Read More »
Placing Your House In A Trust Could Be Your Last Chance For Generational Wealth
You have heard it all before about how people who do not consider themselves rich can still benefit from establishing a trust, but certainly those people have more money than you do. In more innocent times, you considered yourself middle class, but all of the trappings of middle-class life are slipping away from you…. Read More »
Choosing The Right Estate Planning Lawyer
The most common ways that people find the estate planning lawyers who will eventually represent them are through word-of-mouth referrals and Google searches. The rapidly aging young folks are approaching the age where they will need estate planning lawyers, too, and way things are going, they will probably ask their chatbot colleagues for a… Read More »
Seniors Can Save Money On Taxes By Retiring To Florida
If you are looking for an affordable place to retire, you probably will not find it. Yes, you can retire to a remote island somewhere, but it will cost a bundle to fly your family out there to visit you for the holidays, and the spotty Internet connection will leave you constantly worrying about… Read More »
What If You Can’t Get Long-Term Care Insurance?
Everyone has heard laconic pieces of estate planning advice, but which estate planning aphorisms you have heard depends on your income level. If you are so filthy rich that you euphemistically refer to yourself as “affluent,” then you have probably heard that you should only spend three percent of your savings per year, because… Read More »
Which Assets Are Exempt From Probate?
After a person dies, his or her estate goes through probate, where the court reads the deceased person’s will, and the personal representative of the estate files a final tax return for the decedent and settles the decedent’s outstanding debts. The simplest definition of an estate is a deceased person’s property, but actually, some… Read More »
Should Florida Retirees Choose A Will Or A Trust?
If you are just getting started on your estate plan, the sheer number of estate planning documents you can draft is astounding. What is the difference between a living will and a living trust? What are pour-over wills and holographic wills, and what could be bad about an “I love you” will? It sounds… Read More »
Avoiding An Inheritance
Inheritance money inspires complicated feelings, both in the testators and in the heirs. When you write a will and decide who will inherit your property after you die, it forces you to think about what the world will be like without you in it. Leaving someone money in your will is a decision that… Read More »
Is Whole Life Insurance Worth The Price?
Even in your younger years, financially secure people would advise you not to be insurance poor. When you were first married or otherwise first old enough to base your financial decisions on your desire to provide for other people, you probably felt empowered when you bought a dirt-cheap term life insurance policy. It felt… Read More »