How Not To Get Legal Advice
Becky Cholewka: I wanted to do a quick video on how not to get legal advice because, unfortunately, this is one of the biggest areas that I see a lot of people trip up on. A lot of people are getting legal advice from their tax person, their financial planner, their brother who lives in […]
Setting Up POD or TOD On Your Bank Accounts
Becky Cholewka says: I wanted to take a moment and give you a couple tips about your checking savings and brokerage accounts. One way to make sure these accounts avoid the probate process is to make sure you have a beneficiary listed on each of your accounts. That does not mean one beneficiary form per […]
The difference between simple and typical documents
Becky Cholewka: One of the things I hear all the time, probably about 3-4 times a week in my office is “Becky, you know what, I’m simple. I just need simple documents.” What I really think people are trying to tell me is that they are “typical”. Maybe they have a checking account, and a […]
Living Wills for Pets
In the same way that many people have difficulty thinking of and planning for their own mortality, they struggle when considering a pet’s mortality. We love our furry friends; planning for the day we lose them is something most people prefer to avoid. However, putting your wishes in writing is an important step to […]
I Don’t Want the State to Get My Money & Other Concerns…
One of the most common concerns I hear is “I don’t want the state to end up with my money.” Fortunately, that scenario almost never happens. Money only escheats (reverts back) to the State when you do not have any heirs that could inherit your estate. Even if you don’t have children or parents or […]
Even With the Best Planning – Families Disagree
We have families in our office all of the time who are worried about will or trust contests after their death. Our answer, although harsh but is the truth, there is no way to keep someone from contesting your will or trust. The best we can do is to make it disadvantageous for someone to contest, […]
Is your Estate Plan a Trojan Horse?
On January 31st of 2014, the Chinese celebrated the Year of the Horse. Which got me thinking about famous horses: Black Beauty, Secretariat, Trigger, Sea Biscuit, Silver, the Budweiser Clydesdales, Man O’ War, Pokey, and even the Trojan Horse. That famous tale, expertly depicted in the Brad Pitt film Troy, recounts how the Greeks hid […]
What is Your Legacy?
“What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remain and is immortal.” Albert Pine I often hear the term Legacy Planning. Some think it is planning for and accumulating a substantial amount of money to leave behind. Others say it is planning to avoid as many taxes […]
Springing Powers (Not Spring Flowers)
Powers of Attorney (POA) are state specific documents. That means each state has its own rules on what each document must say and how it must be executed. Because of this, a POA from Arizona may not work in Ohio and vice versa. In Arizona, there are three separate POAs: Financial, Healthcare, and Mental Healthcare. […]
Are you a Procrastinator? (If so, read this later!)
A USA Today poll found that the #1 reason people had not yet created a will was procrastination. Procrastination is prioritizing less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable things even though the latter may be more important. I often tell clients, “It you […]
