Elder law attorneys serve as advocates for elderly or disabled clients and their families, providing counsel on a wide range of topics including health care, guardianship, and estate planning. Though it may seem that elder law attorneys are meant to handle extreme or unusual cases, everyone can benefit from the services of an elder law attorney. Here are four things an elder law attorney can do for you: Estate Planning Making sure your affairs are in order is essential, and having an experienced elder law attorney to guide you through the process makes everything easier. Because there are strict guidelines…
When you first dive into getting your affairs in order, all the new terms and phrases you need to understand can be overwhelming. To help guide you through the estate planning process, we’ve gathered several of the most important terms you might need to know: Administration: This is when there is a court-supervised distribution of an estate during probate. This term is also used to describe a similar process for a trust after a grantor dies. Administrator/Administratrix: A person named by the court to manage an estate during probate if the deceased left no will or the will did not…
The knowledge that we will eventually die is one of the things that seems to distinguish humans from other living beings. At the same time, no one likes to dwell on the prospect of his or her own death. But if you postpone planning for your demise until it is too late, you run the risk that your intended beneficiaries — those you love the most — may not receive what you would want them to receive whether due to extra administration costs, unnecessary taxes or squabbling among your heirs. This is why estate planning is so important, no matter…
There has been a noticeable uptick in the number of people who will look to the Internet to prepare their own wills and trusts. There are dozens upon dozens of websites that will profess to offer you just the right discounted estate planning documents. Even wealthy clients who stand to benefit the most from expert planning advice have been impacted. Unfortunately, relying on web-based, do it yourself solutions is a recipe for disaster. Estate planning documents should represent the culmination of a well thought out financial and estate plan. An amalgam of stand-alone documents does not a plan make. Furthermore,…
The knowledge that we will eventually die is one of the things that seems to distinguish humans from other living beings. At the same time, no one likes to dwell on the prospect of his or her own death. But if you postpone planning for your demise until it is too late, you run the risk that your intended beneficiaries — those you love the most — may not receive what you would want them to receive whether due to extra administration costs, unnecessary taxes or squabbling among your heirs. This is why estate planning is so important, no matter…
When you die, your debts do not expire with you. Most debt still needs to be paid off, if possible, although who is responsible for paying the debt depends on the type of debt, and some assets are protected from being used to satisfy a debt. Outstanding debt may include mortgages, credit card bills, car loans, personal loans, or condominium fees — even car leases, where death is considered “early termination” of a contract. Usually your estate is responsible for paying any debts you leave behind. If the estate does not have enough money, the debts will go unpaid. In…
What happens if you become mentally or physically ill? What happens if you have an accident? If something happens to you, who will look after your affairs? Can you imagine your family having to ask what should be done or could be done because you did not put your affairs in order? Yes, you are busy at work and managing the lives of your children, but if you are reading this article and have not considered an estate plan, you need to do one now. As a businessperson, you probably encounter problems every day and are…
Don’t let your life savings be diminished by the high cost of probate or destroyed from ever increasing long term care expenses We handle a great deal of probate cases at my office. In fact, if someone has passed away in your family, we can probably help you. However, whenever I work on these cases I often wonder why so many people allow their assets to go through probate. Did they not know there were other choices? Did they not know how expensive probate can be? I am also often saddened when I see a person’s Will that leaves the…
If you are worried that disappointed heirs could contest your will or trust after you die, one option is to include a "no-contest clause" in your estate planning documents. A no-contest clause provides that if an heir challenges the will or trust and loses, then he or she will get nothing. A no-contest clause may be a good idea if you have a beneficiary who may be upset by the property distributed to him or her. However, no-contest clauses (also called in terrorem clauses) only work if you are willing to leave something of value to the potentially disgruntled heir….
Estate planning is primarily about how to pass your property on after your death to the recipients of your estate with a minimum of fuss, expense and taxes. But it's about a lot more as well. Over the years practicing estate and elder law planning, I have seen many families torn asunder by poorly planned estates. (Of course, the cracks were already present.) Whether and how you plan your estate can mean that your children will or will not be on speaking terms after you're gone. It can determine whether they will be shortchanged by Medicaid claims or estate taxes,…
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