There’s more than retirement savings power in a Roth IRA. Used properly, it can help cut your beneficiary’s tax liability, regardless of if and when tax reform becomes reality. If you’re interested in reducing the taxes your heirs will have to pay, you’re probably concerned about the discussion about tax…
For living trusts, the person or people who set them up are usually named the initial trustees, but after that, there needs to be a successor trustee. Think carefully about who you would want to take on these responsibilities. When the first spouse dies, the surviving spouse usually becomes the…
Your best bet for making or changing a will, is to sit down with an experienced estate planning attorney, so that your will won’t be invalid. Mistakes in wills are not easily fixed. Having an estate plan in place and discussing your estate plan with your loved ones in advance,…
Living trusts can achieve different goals, depending upon how they are drafted. Knowing the fundamentals will help you decide how to go forward. It’s important to know that not all living trusts are the same. However, common reasons for using a living trust are for privacy and avoiding probate. Placing…
Higher fees are coming to high earners, when income thresholds for the highest surcharge tiers drop even further next year. If you were hit with premium surcharges for Medicare Part B and Part D already, these costs will increase again in 2018, according to a recent article in Kiplinger, “Medicare…
Here’s another reason to meet with your estate planning attorney face-to-face. An overseas-based scam is targeting the elderly with a website that uses photos and content stolen from real law firm websites. A website purporting to be an estate planning law firm is the subject of a lawsuit from the…
If you plan on leaving the family home to your heirs when you die, be aware of the tax liabilities that are associated with inheriting a house. This is the type of estate planning decision that requires a closer look with an estate planning attorney to evaluate the pros and…
Blending a family is not an easy task, but doing so successfully can create a new and strong family unit. Among the challenges are how to blend finances. Blended families are no longer limited to television sitcoms. The Pew Research Center reports that 41% of all Americans have at least…
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…
In the best of all possible worlds, your retirement finances include a nest egg that generates a steady flow of income while your principal assets continue to grow. There are six key investment points that, if you can meet them, will make retirement finances work in your favor, according to…