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On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Friday, March 13, 2015. There are many cases throughout the country where parents did not review their estate plans carefully and family members are now fighting over the estates. For example, if you as a parent say that you intend to leave a large portion of your estate to your children but you don't actually update your will to reflect that, the courts will either automatically revert to your previous Will or, if you did not ...

On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Friday, March 6, 2015. In most cases, if your estate has credit card debt the executor of your estate will need to use any funds left to pay those debts. There are different instances, however, where this is not the case.For example, if one of the people on a joint credit card dies, the person who is alive will be responsible for paying that lingering credit card debt, even if he or she was never actively using the card. Author...

On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. You are about to start your estate planning process, which is great, but even if you have a Will or Trust set up, there are major errors most individuals make during the estate planning process that can cost them (or their heirs) greatly in the end.Mistake Number One: Not Setting Up Secondary GuardiansWhen you set up your Will with your estate planning attorney you will already set guardians for your chi...

On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Tuesday, February 24, 2015. Any time you are looking for solid and unbiased consumer information you know that you can find it in Consumer Reports magazine. The folks there do a fine job of analyzing products and services in a very fair and balanced way. They then pass along their findings to the public so that we can proceed with a foundation of useful information before parting with any of our hard-earned money.Consumer Repor...

On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Wednesday, February 11, 2015. It is possible to will one's IRA to a family member or other chosen beneficiary. On receiving the IRA, the beneficiary is able to make withdrawals right away, but there are considerable tax implications for doing so. In fact, those who take money out of an IRA they have inherited will face similar tax issues to those they would face for taking money from their own retirement accounts.Withdrawal Opt...

On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Thursday, February 5, 2015. As with all professional services, there are fees associated with creating a trust-based estate plan. Many people with assets will have to use a more comprehensive estate plan that includes a trust. This is because a trust will protect the individual's assets, prevent excessive estate tax and offer a wide variety of strategies for distributing the estate.Pros to a Trust-Based AttorneyAttorneys who wo...

On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Thursday, January 29, 2015. When you sit down to discuss your estate with an estate planning lawyer you should be prepared to share all of the relevant details. If you leave out anything important your estate can wind up being quite tangled after you pass away, and the primary purpose behind making preparations is to enable smooth asset transfers when the appropriate time arrives.Your attorney may ask certain sensitive question...

On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Friday, January 23, 2015. Estate planning and retirement planning are naturally connected. If you have particular ideas in mind with regard to what you want to be able to do for your family after you pass away these intentions could impact your retirement budget. Clearly, you can't provide inheritances if there is nothing left after you pass away.Unfortunately a great many Americans are finding themselves in just that position....

On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Wednesday, January 14, 2015. Alzheimer's disease is more common than a lot of people may think. The Alzheimer's Association does a lot of great work with regard to research and education, and they tell us that somewhere in the vicinity of 40% of the oldest old are suffering from this disease.The term "oldest old" refers to people who are at least 85 years of age. Believe it or not, this is the fastest growing age group in the U...

On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Monday, January 5, 2015. Acute intoxication was listed as the cause of death when the artist Thomas Kinkade passed away recently at the age of 54. Kinkade was very successful financially and it is estimated that the value of his estate when he died was somewhere in the vicinity of $65 million.There are times when celebrities pass away without executing a proper estate plan and these cases can sometimes be instructive as you see...