After traveling to Mexico for spring break, Alex developed a severe intestinal bug that landed him in the college infirmary. Franc rushed to visit him there, only to find that doctors refused to discuss his son’s condition, citing privacy concerns. If you have a college-aged child, you may need to…
Some people decide, as Robin Williams apparently did, that it's better to hand down wealth to adult children while you, the parent, are still alive. (Of course, you have to have more than enough assets for yourself to be able to do that.) One benefit is that you will have…
Why would parents procrastinate on something that it so important to their family’s well-being? The fact of the matter is that life insurance and estate planning are two topics that most people just don’t want to talk about. It is no fun to think about your own demise and picture…
His Will was written before the birth of his last two children and never updated; thus, his estate plan is completely silent about his wishes for them. The actor's death also highlights the effect that marriage can have on an estate plan. It seems that once a high-profile celebrity passes…
No one wants to leave their heirs with a mess to sort out or fight over. Here's a look at the top six things to remember when you're estate planning for a blended family. If you are remarried, how does the new marriage affect your estate planning? There are many…
Your first step? Take stock of all your assets. These include your investments, retirement accounts, insurance policies, real estate and any business interests. According to CNN Money's "Identifying your assets" (i.e., part of its Money Essentials Series), a good first step for estate planning is to review and inventory all…
Leaving even a small inheritance to your children requires planning. Regardless the size of your estate, structuring an inheritance properly can avoid problems and help your beneficiaries use your hard-earned assets more wisely. Last year, AARP included an article in its materials titled, "How to Leave an Inheritance to Your…
If there is a boogeyman when it comes to family conversations about inheritance, it is not death. It’s the $40 trillion that financial advisers say their baby boomer clients are going to pass to their children either in an orderly way — or in a chaotic mess. A report by…
You may have made a giant estate planning mistake without even knowing it — forgetting to update the names of your beneficiaries for your employer-sponsored retirement plans, IRAs, life insurance policies, mutual funds, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, annuities and 529 college savings plans. The recent MarketWatch article, titled “Don’t make…
If there is a boogeyman when it comes to family conversations about inheritance, it is not death. It’s the $40 trillion that financial advisers say their baby boomer clients are going to pass to their children either in an orderly way — or in a chaotic mess. A report by…