Conversations about money, death and dying wishes become tangled up in strong emotions surrounding these matters. A strategic approach might be helpful. Every family is different, but almost every family struggles with conversations about wills, estate planning and money. A recent article in The Chicago Tribune, “Have the estate planning…
Forget to make these changes and your heirs may never forgive you. Forget to align these documents, and your estate planning attorney will never forget you. Once the process of legally ending your marriage begins, you will need to make sure that your own interests are protected and that includes…
Far too many parents are stunned to learn that healthcare providers and colleges are by law not permitted to speak with them about their children without the correct documents in place. That long-awaited, bittersweet moment has finally arrived: your children are headed off to college. They are now adults—and likely…
Privacy and a faster resolution to settling estates are just two good reasons to create an estate plan. You really don't have to be a millionaire or famous to create an estate plan, as noted in an article appearing on the Forbes' website, "Prince and Estate Planning: What We Can…
Despite countless celebrity estate battles, most Americans still put off having a will created. Think of a will as an itinerary for your family that will make their lives easier once you are gone. Prince was clearly busy with performing, writing, recording and creating. But that's still not a good…
April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD). And now that you’ve met the big deadline for filing your tax return, it's a great time to turn your attention to ensuring that your estate planning documents are in place, beginning with your own advance directives. Everyone needs current and valid…
“What about the wife?” the social worker asked. How could we have missed this most basic and vital piece of information? It’s easier than you might think. The sister didn’t get along with the wife and apparently wasn’t moved to tell us of her existence. The social worker had been…
[Dr. V.J. Periyakoil] and her colleagues wanted to learn more about the attitudes of young doctors toward 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 decisions? Everyone varies medically, intellectually and culturally. In addition,…
Often, proxies are confused about how “do not hospitalize” orders work. Several proxies believed, mistakenly, that a such an order was equivalent to a request to withhold medical intervention altogether. For elderly loved ones in nursing homes, there is a very powerful tool found in a little known directive known…
Nancy Wagner, a social worker at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J., encounters this frustration at least once a week: A patient arrives in the emergency room and tells the inquiring staff that yes, she has indeed prepared and signed an advance directive. But, well, she doesn’t have it…