Estate Planning
New Year’s Resolution: Update your Estate Plan
Happy New Year! We are just a week in and many of us have started our New Year’s Resolutions. Number One on the list seems to be to get healthier and number two seems to be more organized. May I add a third? If you’ve invested in an estate plan for your family, this is…
READ MORE →Blended Families Require Different Estate Planning Tactics
With Thanksgiving this week, I thought we’d post our blog early. This also seemed like a good time to discuss family, especially blended families which are becoming more and more common these days. According to the American Psychological Association, 40-50 percent of married couples in the United States divorce. The divorce rate for subsequent marriages…
READ MORE →What Do Halloween and Estate Planning Have in Common?
This year, many of us are looking forward to Halloween. No matter how you choose to celebrate (Trick-or-Treating socially distanced or movies at home among other ways), we are determined to keep this fun holiday on our calendars despite the pandemic. Believe our not, because of the history of Halloween, estate planning and this holiday…
READ MORE →Long Term Care Insurance: It’s No “Quacking” Matter
We’ve all seen the commercials with the talking duck, right? The company sells “insurance for medical injuries or disabilities.” It is an additional policy you can buy, just in case. Long term care insurance policies go one step further. Very succinctly, they provide similar types of insurance but for folks who have long term medical…
READ MORE →Do an Estate Plan Your Way, Like John McCain
We lost two great Americans very recently: John McCain and Aretha Franklin. On the surface, they had great taste in music in common, but choose very different paths in their legacy planning. If you have been watching John McCain’s Funeral proceedings over the last few days, you may have heard that much of what was occurring…
READ MORE →Don’t Forget Your Pets: Pet Trusts Provide for Furry Family
A pet trust is a legal arrangement that provides for the care and maintenance of pets in the event of their owner’s death or incapacity.
READ MORE →6 Estate Planning Myths Debunked
US News and World Reports wrote an excellent blog post detailing the six most common estate planning myths. I thought I would share the list with you because it is a great overall reference: A will is perfect for making sure property in your name alone is distributed properly, such as a house, jewelry, cars etc.…
READ MORE →Privacy Matters: Wills Vs. Living Trusts
Wills Vs. Living Trusts. The terms are used interchangeably but are they really the same thing? The quick answer is definitely not. One affords more privacy in the long run than the other. Most of us are not celebrities, but we may for one reason or another want to keep our private matters private, even…
READ MORE →Estate Plan: Party of One
Estate Plan: Party of One We often hear how hard it is for clients to choose from various family members to execute an estate plan, but what if you are single and without children (at least nearby)? “About 35.4 million Americans lived alone in 2016, comprising 28.1 percent of all U.S. households, according to the…
READ MORE →Student Loans & Estate Planning: Read Before Applying
My friends and clients who have upperclassmen in high school have been mentioning their university tours and investigating how they (and/or their kids) will pay for college. Many are considering student loans and apparently, they are not the only ones — 44 million Americans have student loan debt and owe over $1.48 trillion (yes, with a…
READ MORE →Summertime: Read This Before You Go On Vacation or Off to College
This Memorial Day, one of my clients was acknowledging a loss of her own (in addition to the loss of many brave men and women who fight for our country). It marked the 20th anniversary of the loss of her brother while away on vacation on the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nev. Despite the years,…
READ MORE →3 Ways to Estate Plan Like a Royal
Whatever the size of your “kingdom,” you’ll most likely need to have an estate plan. In Arizona, if you own personal property (including cars, jewelry, furniture, heirlooms, etc.) that is worth more than $75,000 – or real estate with more than $100,000 in equity, your estate will go to probate. But with a proper plan,…
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