Under the new law, not only must all of the tax on IRAs and plans benefits be paid much earlier than it was before, but the rate will likely be much higher too, since that income will be bundled into the recipients’ peak earning years.
Some health care facilities in our area say they are seeing more cases of early-onset dementia than ever before.
An End-of-Life Checklist can avoid any confusion or questions that may arise among different family members.
Nobody likes to think about dying. However, it happens whether we prepare for it or not. If you don’t do some advance planning, it can cause even more longer lasting pain and grief, not to mention money and strained relations for your loved ones.
A power of attorney is a document that lets you appoint a person or an organization to handle the financial and medical decisions on your behalf, when you are not able to because of sickness or death. The person or the organization is called the attorney-in-fact or the agent. POA is given to someone whom you can trust with your life.
Sometimes, despite best intentions and best efforts, an estate plan leaves unintended problems for heirs, trustees and others to solve. For example, a trust may have become outdated because of changes in tax laws, the birth or death of family members, or special circumstances like an heir’s disability.
Many people have tens of thousands–even hundreds of thousands–of dollars in their IRAs. If you have an asset that large, shouldn’t you devote more effort to planning for its ultimate disposition?
Geckos are amazing and resilient creatures. They can climb up vertical surfaces. Some geckos can fly. If you cut off a gecko’s tail, they’ll grow it back. These five tips for making an estate or trust administration go smoothly create the acronym ‘GECKO’. So, keeping the amazing lizard in mind, read on for some helpful advice on how to ease the process of estate or trust administration. [Read More]
Even if your asset base doesn’t measure up to the Bill Gates standard, you may consider using trusts in estate planning. This is because they can help your heirs in many different ways.
The most common question I get asked in our Mutual Interview is, “What’s the difference between a will and a trust?” The answer is based on the way each gets treated while you’re living and after you die. Whether you choose one or the other depends on your goals for your plan. [Read More]
