Planning your own funeral sounds morbid, but if you think of it as a gift that alleviates pressure and decision making for your loved ones during a very difficult time, it might make it easier to move forward. Usually the call comes to the estate planning attorney from a child…
Estate planning is not just for people who live in mansions. Quite the opposite! Everyone needs to have an estate plan to protect themselves while they are living and to protect loved ones when they pass. Having an estate plan can eliminate confusion, expensive delays and overall bad outcomes, according…
Parking a “granny pod” in the backyard may be the best way to have aging parents near, but not under, your own roof. Finding suitable and affordable housing for aging parents is a real challenge for many families. A senior lifestyle community may be too expensive, but living on their…
With the holidays fast approaching, it's a great time to think about keeping grandparents—and their grandchildren—safe at home. In the U.S. today, multigenerational living is on the rise, due to the higher cost of housing, student loans, and the more challenging career path faced by younger adults today. Money isn’t…
Unintended consequences can occur when dividing up real property, which is often harder to distribute than investment accounts or savings accounts. Planning for real property division must take into account the different circumstances of your heirs. You may have envisioned a time in the future, when your children and grandchildren…
An estate plan does a lot more than distribute your assets among family members and organizations that share your values. It also protects you and your loved ones. That’s why everyone needs an estate plan, especially if you have minor children. It’s amazing that some people still think they don’t…
Britney Spears five dogs enjoy the same quality of life as she does, but without a pet trust, if anything happened to her, their lavish lifestyle would be at risk. Pet trusts are no longer the exclusive province of the rich and famous, but a recent article in Trust Advisor…
Legal battles that lasted longer than the marriage, continue to plague the daughter of a real estate investor. A court action brought by a young woman, whose mother devoted nine years to gaining control of her trust fund, is now trying to free herself from her mother’s financial grip. Her…
When the greed nerve gets tapped, relationships suffer. There are things you can do now that will lessen the likelihood of family battles after you pass. Every family has its own dynamics, and some siblings that never resolve their differences, no matter how many years go by. When both parents…
Many people put off doing their wills because of the difficulty of deciding on a guardian for their minor children. But if choosing one is difficult, choosing two might actually make the process easier. This is the situation no one wants to even think about: both parents dying unexpectedly and…