Houston Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney Blog

Ask Yourself These 3 Questions About Estate Planning in Houston

Published on: May 15, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

…There are a few important questions many of us don’t think about. They’re the often overlooked issues of estate planning that could make all the difference for your relatives and heirs after you pass.

Estate planning encompasses so many areas of your life. For starters, you'll likely consider your values and your family. Then there is the nitty-gritty you might be overlooking: the financial, the legal, and the shared understandings. Make time for some real thinking, but also take some time to begin thinking about what you might be overlooking before planning in earnest.

The bits and pieces that are easiest to overlook are the kinds of things best uncovered by some friendly self-interrogation. To help get that conversation started, consider reading a recent article in US News & World Report titled “3 Important Estate Planning Questions.”

Houston Parents: Give The Inheritance Now Or Later?

Published on: May 14, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Ultimately, the decision about whether to leave your children money now or later depends entirely on your financial and family circumstances.

Deciding whether or not to leave an inheritance is only part of the equation. When should you give it – now or later?

Forbes recently tackled this difficult issue a short while ago in an article titled “Should I Gift Money To My Children Now Or Later?”

Late-In-Life Loves: Legal Concerns For Marriage in Houston

Published on: May 13, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

“Young people may be eager to marry for love, but older couples are more practical and worry about paying the bills,” says Pepper Schwartz, professor of sociology at the University of Washington.

These days, more and more Americans are meeting new loves or (finally) their true loves later in life. It has been said that marriage is a young persons’ game, but love isn’t. Even if you leave marriage to the young and idealistic, there is still some planning that really has to be in place.

The sociology of later-in-life marriage is fascinating, both in thinking about the recent jump in numbers and the more recent decrease. Either with or without tying the knot it is also a practical issue with legal ramifications, and for those later-in-life loves not destined for marriage there is some practical advice to be gleaned in a recent article on the subject in The New York Times titled “Welcoming Love at an Older Age, but Not Necessarily Marriage.”

Estate Planning Rules To Follow

Published on: May 12, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Remember that any mistakes in your estate plan will live long after you. Follow these rules and you’ll end up with an estate plan that works well for you and your heirs.

Planning for the estate is really an ongoing activity. Accordingly, estate planning is not a “one-and-done” event, but rather it is a process to continue as things inevitably change. In this sense, you might say that proper planning, as an activity, is not guided by a checklist but by rules to follow. InvestingDaily offered some useful perspective on the rule-driven process of planning in a recent article titled “10 Basic Rules of Every Estate Plan.”

Here are the ten:

Does Your Houston Charity Follow Through?

Published on: May 9, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Picking the right charity can be so complicated that it makes picking stocks look easy.

When you give to charity, do you ever wonder if your donation is really going where it's intended? Or if your gift is doing the work you intended?

If you are wrestling with these and similar questions, you may be interested in a recent article in The New York Times titled “Donating, and Making Sure the Money Is Put to Work.”

Guard Your Houston Heirs From IRA Snares

Published on: May 8, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Worried about your adult children blowing through their inheritance? Two strategies can help holders of individual retirement accounts curb an heir’s impulse to “cash out.”

You may have many assets to leave behind for your heirs. However, an IRA is unique enough to be easily squandered in taxes, as MarketWatch noted in a recent article appropriately titled “Protect your heirs from an IRA tax trap.”

IRAs are some of the most common high-value assets. That noted, because they are such unique accounts, there are some equally unique rules regarding inherited IRAs that are either amenable to diligent financial planning or a short-term high of a cash-out.

Is An Inheritance An Initiative Sucker for Houston Heirs?

Published on: May 7, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

“I don’t believe in inheriting money,” CNN host Anderson Cooper recently told Howard Stern on Stern’s radio show. Added Cooper, a son of designer and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt: “I think it’s an initiative sucker. I think it’s a curse.”

American attitudes toward inheritance seem to be shifting, partly by fiscal necessity in the wake of a global financial recession and partly a shift in values or beliefs.

Forbes explored the difficult and interesting subject a short time ago in the article titled “What Kind Of Inheritance Do You Owe Your Kids?”

Eight Go-To Estate Planning Documents for Houston Residents

Published on: May 6, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Many of us want to get going but don't know where to start. So, here are eight documents that can help you get your affairs in order. If that sounds like a lot of paperwork, don't worry: You probably won't need every one of them.

A properly planned and executed estate plan will have a few key elements and a number of important documents. So how many pieces is your plan all together? It depends upon your own estate. Regardless of your unique estate, it’s helpful to start with a basic list of documents.

There are a great number of little estate planning lists out there, and a dozen ways to list the documents you might need. That noted, MSN Money provided a helpful guide not too long ago with a helpful list of eight titled “Estate-Planning Documents You Need Right Now.”

Foundation Renovation: Donor-Advised Funds

Published on: May 5, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

[Donor-advised funds] promise a number of advantages over foundations, such as lower annual costs, more privacy and no required minimum payout each year. A big difference between the two is control.

Running a charitable foundation can be richly rewarding, yet exhausting. Now there is a popular alternative to a full foundation and a move to collapse back into what is known as a donor-advised fund.

If you or your family run a charitable foundation and are considering this alternative, The Wall Street Journal had a few points to consider in a recent article titled “Risks to Consider With Donor-Advised Funds.”

Houston Families and Spousal IRA Heirships

Published on: May 2, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

A spouse who inherits an IRA has a choice. The surviving spouse can move the account into an inherited IRA to keep the tax shelter. Or she can choose to roll the account into her own IRA.

There are some unique rules that go into effect when an IRA is bequeathed and inherited. If a spouse is inheriting the IRA, they have extra leeway that’s worth putting to good use.

The sorts of things an IRA inheriting spouse ought to think about don’t make the headlines quite as often. However, DailyFinance offered a helpful guide a short time ago in an article titled “When A Spouse Inherits An IRA.”