Same-sex marriage is now legal throughout the U.S., but same-sex couples still should not rely on statutory legal protections instead of getting estate plans. When same-sex marriage was not legal in the U.S., it was vital that LGBT couples get estate plans to preserve their interests as the law provided them few, if any, legal [...]
Wills and trusts are the two pillars of estate planning and determining how assets will be passed on to future generations. You need to know whether or not you need one, the other or both. The two main ways that people pass their assets to their heirs are through a will and through a trust. [...]
Some people wonder what time of year is the best time for them to get estate plans. There are several possible answers. At first glance it might seem like an odd question, but it is one that gets asked with some frequency: What is the best time of year to plan for my estate? The [...]
In the past few years, many services have sprung up that offer to help people create their own estate plans—such as by offering them downloadable forms. These services are often inexpensive but also risky. You can find a lot of advice on the Internet that will tell you that estate planning really is not that [...]
If no changes are made, then eventually the Social Security trust fund will run out of money. One of the commonly proposed solutions is to increase the amount that the wealthy pay in taxes. But will it work? Because of America’s changing demographics and aging population, it is expected that the Social Security trust fund [...]
A common question that people have about estate planning is whether they should tell their adult children about their plans. There are no easy answers. After people get estate plans they often want to know whether they should tell other people about the contents of the plan. Specifically, people want to know if they should [...]
If you do not have an estate plan, there is a very simple reason that you should get one. It is not a big revelation that people prefer not to think about the end of their own lives and assume they will live for a long time. This makes many people put off getting an [...]
Parents often assume that when their children go to college if anything happens to the children, the parents will be able to handle everything just like they did when the children were younger. They are wrong unless they have done some basic estate planning for their children. In many families just because a child is [...]
Horses are not like other pets in that you cannot expect that everyone knows how to care for them after you pass away. If you have pets, it is always a good idea to make plans for who will take care of them in case something happens to you. However, that might not be equally [...]
The economic, political and social systems in the U.S. all assume that older people will retire and need care. Some people think this is an increasingly outdated model that will not be needed in the future. On average Americans are living longer and longer. Our expected life spans keep increasing. For some people this is [...]