by Christine | Jun 13, 2014 | Estate Planning, Retirement, Roth IRA |
The question of which investment accounts you should tap first in retirement can often be a tricky one. But it gets even trickier if your goal is to leave money to heirs. How do you balance retirement with your estate planning goals? After all, even if you...
by Christine | Jun 12, 2014 | Estate Law, Estate Planning, Trustee, Trusts |
Here are three factors that your clients should consider when making this important decision. How do you make sure you leave the trust in the right hands? Picking a trustee can be a very difficult task. It is not the same as crafting words to paper – ink is cheap in a...
by Christine | Jun 11, 2014 | Estate Planning, Special Needs, Special Needs Children, Special Needs Planning, Special Needs Trusts |
Caring for children with special needs can require a lot of financial and logistical planning to ensure they're experiencing the best quality of life possible. There is much thought and planning that goes into caring for a child with special needs. And that...
by Christine | Jun 10, 2014 | Dementia, Elder Law, Estate Planning |
Not only can dementia lead to poor financial decision-making; it can also make sufferers susceptible to financial fraud. You cannot predict whether or not you or your spouse will develop dementia later in life. But because dementia is such a real possibility to face...
by Christine | Jun 9, 2014 | Charitable Giving, Estate Planning, Wealth Transfer |
"We say to people: 'If you do nothing, your money will go to the state. Is that what you want?' That's enough to make them want to consider something else," says Andrew Russell, a certified financial planner in San Diego. If you have no spouse or...
by Christine | Jun 6, 2014 | Asset Protection, Marriage |
So how do DAPTs work in a marriage to protect assets? Do they need to be set up before the marriage? Can they be set up during the marriage? Marriage might be that last step in bringing two people and two lives together. Nevertheless, that moment often causes one to...
by Christine | Jun 5, 2014 | Advanced Health Care Directive, Elder Law, Living Will |
[Dr. V.J. Periyakoil] and her colleagues wanted to learn more about the attitudes of young doctors towards advance directives. So the researchers asked what choices they would make for themselves if they were terminally ill. How do people make their end-of-life...
by Christine | Jun 4, 2014 | Federal Estate Tax, Tax Law |
What is the $5 million federal estate-tax exclusion, and how does it work? Now that "tax time" is over for many Americans, the subject of taxes may not come up as often. In fact, when it comes to the estate tax you may not think about it until you sit down...
by Christine | Jun 3, 2014 | Elder Law, Estate Planning, International Law |
One of your first considerations should be where to keep your money. When you move abroad, you will most likely need to open a bank account in the new country in order to pay local bills. An increasing number of people are retiring on foreign shores. If you’re...
by Christine | Jun 2, 2014 | Estate Planning, Women & the Law |
It’s not that there are different estate-planning tools for each sex. But women are likelier to live longer, they’re likelier to be custodial parents and, speaking generally, women often approach the topic differently than men. Do you think estate planning for women...
