Category Archives: Estate Planning
Frequent Flier Miles and Estate Law
Many people dream of spending their retirement years traveling the world. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has put the travel plans of millions of retirees on hold indefinitely. Thanks to an increasing number of COVID-19 vaccine doses being administered, the number of new cases nationwide has been decreasing in the past few weeks, but the… Read More »
Make Your Wishes About Guardianship Known Now, While You Are Healthy Enough Not to Need a Guardian
You have probably heard heartbreaking stories of elder abuse in which a caregiver, in some cases a professional caregiver but in other cases a family member, swindled an elderly person out of large sums of money while the person was in failing health. Perhaps the unscrupulous caregiver talked the victim into changing his will… Read More »
Should You Divide Your Estate Equally Among Your Children?
When your children are little, you can only guess what they will be like as adults? Will the daughter who loves drawing grow up to use her excellent fine motor skills to cook elaborate family meals for holidays, and will she use her eye for details in a career as a forensic scientist, a… Read More »
3 Estate Planning Tools
While there are a lot of variables from person to person, there are three main documents that need to be created when you are setting up an estate plan. Having these documents in place means you will know your wishes will be carried out and your assets will be distributed in the manner you… Read More »
Asset Protection Planning & Handling Debts in Estate Planning, Part II
Any plans for handling the debts of a decedent in estates requires very careful planning with an estate planning attorney, otherwise it is entirely possible that creditors or other sources of liability (such as plaintiffs in litigation) could end up significantly interfering with your inheritance plans for your family and loved ones. We’ve previously… Read More »
Should I Establish a Premarital Agreement Before My Florida Marriage?
There are a variety of reasons why couples decide to establish a Florida premarital agreement or prenuptial. After all, prenups are a way to confirm how assets and inheritance issues will be handled in the event there is a break in the union. A written contract, a prenup is a legal document that is… Read More »
Everything That Can Go Wrong with Third-Party Funded Special Needs Trusts
A recent question submitted to a newspaper publication concerning confusion over a trust that was established in New Jersey for a beneficiary that lives in Florida highlights just how important it is for those who want to set up a trust to work with an experienced estate planning attorney who asks the right questions… Read More »
Ways to Ensure That Your Estate Plan Is Flexible Enough to Handle Coming Change
There is no question that a crossroads is approaching estate planning, and you should start preparing for it now. In addition to the high probability of change coming to federal estate and gift taxes, whereby the exemption could be significantly reduced in the future, there are a number of other changes coming such that… Read More »
Estate Planning Alternatives to The Stretch IRA
As we previously discussed, the Secure Act eliminated the stretch IRA and replaced it with a 10-year payout for most non-spouse beneficiaries, including instances where a trust is named as the beneficiary, interfering with the ability for many to obtain the estate planning objectives they originally had in mind. However, there are other “tax-smart”… Read More »
One Wrong Word in Estate Planning Could Leave Family Member(s) Destitute: Why You Want to Coordinate with Your Attorney On Everything
As estate planning attorneys, one of the most common – but also dangerous – errors that we see people make involves beneficiary designations. Not necessarily understanding how inheritance works and the fact that accounts governed by these designations are separate from assets governed by a will, as well as how the law governs them… Read More »