More and more Americans are amassing large fortunes. That means that more and more Americans are concerned about how passing that wealth on to their children could impact their children's lives. In "Penta Millionaires: The New Rising Class" Barron's reports that the number of American families with wealth is growing and diversifying. More families have [...]
Everyone regrets something at the end of a long life, even if it is just not telling friends and family how much they meant to them. A letter-writing project seeks to help people alleviate some of those regrets. Doctors and other professionals who care for the elderly who are approaching the end of their lives [...]
Some states require that an original will be submitted to probate or restrict the circumstances when a copy can be produced instead. What happens when the original will has been lost? It is always a good idea to keep the original copy of your will safe and secure. In some states the original has to [...]
Sometimes people who have good intentions can give bad advice. An illustration of this comes from a recent Dear Abby column that advised a woman to tell her mother to set up a trust. The columnist known as Dear Abby has been giving advice for decades to newspaper readers who write in with problems. To [...]
The term "simple will" is often used to describe a certain standard type of will that many people get. Before getting one for yourself, you need to understand what it means. Estate planning attorneys are used to clients saying they just need to get a simple will. Many people are told by others, long before [...]
Contrary to popular belief estate planning is not one-size fits all and not everyone needs a revocable living trust. However, they are a good option for many people. When you start asking around for estate planning advice, you will probably find the first thing many non-experts say about it is that you need to get [...]
If you would like to make sure that your estate goes to the people you want it to go to, then it is important to avoid making some basic estate planning mistakes. It is impossible to avoid making mistakes in every aspect of your life. No one can always be perfect at everything. Estate planning [...]
Every once in a while a story comes out about a person who lived frugally and managed to amass a fortune. The latest example is a librarian from New Hampshire. Robert Morin loved books. It is believed that with only a few exceptions he once read every book published in the U.S. between 1930 and [...]
Some people today suggest that not everyone needs a will because of the many other methods of transferring assets. However, everyone would benefit by at least having a simple will. There are many different ways to transfer assets after you pass away. You can create all sorts of different trusts. You can title property as [...]
If you receive Social Security benefits, it is very important that you that you understand how to protect your Social Security account from thieves. Recently the Social Security Administration introduced a two-step verification process for access to Social Security account information online. Unfortunately, it required people have access to text messaging, which many senior citizens [...]