Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Think Twice Before Merging Your Finances With Your Children
The market is flooded with advice books about caring for your children during their first years of life, but the advice industry is frustratingly silent about the best ways to have a healthy relationship with your children when they are adults. Books, websites, and podcasts bombard you with information about the best ways to… Read More »
Beware Of Known And Reasonably Ascertainable Creditors
The fun part of estate planning is daydreaming about enjoying retirement and about being generous to your descendants. In fact, you might even spend your first few sessions with an estate planning lawyer focusing on your dreams of your golden years and of creating generational wealth. Eventually, though, you will need to confront your… Read More »
Retirement Income For The 99 Percent
The gig economy is not just for young people; cushy jobs have become a thing of the past, and cushy pensions and employer-provided retirement account contributions are even harder to find among the most recent cohort of people to find themselves added to the AARP’s mailing list. Life keeps getting more expensive, so how… Read More »
Estate Planning For Millennials Who Value Experiences Over Stuff And Friendship Over DNA
You’ve heard all the stereotypes about millennials. Millennials value experiences over stuff, and they certainly can’t be bothered with frivolous purchases like the disposable dinner napkin. Financially, millennials are screwed; most of them will never own a house. Millennials have the lowest birth rate in U.S. history, whether because diaper duty is a less… Read More »
Will The Clutter You Find In A Deceased Relative’s House Affect The Probate Of Their Estate?
Selling a deceased relative’s house is often one of the most stressful parts of probate. If the decedent included instructions in their will about selling the house, it makes the process somewhat easier, but selling a house is never easy, even under circumstances that do not involve bereavement. The worst is if the decedent… Read More »
How Not To Help Your Children Financially: Advice From An Estate Planning Lawyer
From an estate planning perspective, there are no right or wrong answers about how much or how little money to give your adult children. As long as you have enough money left over for your own retirement expenses and healthcare, you can continue to spoil your children and grandchildren as much as you want. … Read More »
Family Members Feud Over Cosmetology Tycoon’s Guardianship Fees
No matter how much money you save and invest during your working years, no matter how modestly you live after retirement, and no matter how big an estate you leave when you die, it can all go to waste if your family members spend it all on legal battles against each other during probate. … Read More »
How Important Is Life Insurance in Your Estate Plan?
At every age, you have probably heard people advise you not to be insurance-poor. Trying to get most types of insurance to pay for what they promised to pay for, whether it is your health insurance paying for doctor’s office visits or your car insurance paying for vehicle repair after a car accident. At… Read More »
Is Collecting Sports Memorabilia a Substitute for Estate Planning?
In the world of estate planning, conventional wisdom says that your family members do not want to inherit an uncategorized pile of your personal property. In fact, the legal term “personal property,” which refers to all physical objects you own that are not real estate, might as well just be a euphemism for clutter. … Read More »
Accounting for Historically Significant Property in Your Estate Plan
Unless you belong to one of the earliest vintages of Baby boomers, your children probably cannot remember the time before women held prominent positions in the executive branch of the United States government. Before Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, and Hillary Clinton, there was Janet Reno, who… Read More »