6 Ways a Lawyer Can Help with Finance
Working with your attorney to create a Durable Financial Power of Attorney (POA) ensures that, in the event you become incapacitated due to illness or injury, your financial affairs continue to be handled properly. With this document, you assign an individual whom you trust to act as your financial agent. These decisions may include […]
Let’s Play Ball!
Springtime always reminds me of baseball. The local ball field was about a half-mile from my house where I grew up. Every Saturday morning in the spring and early summer I woke up to the sounds of the announcer over the PA system. I love baseball. I love the sights and the sounds of the […]
Procrastination
Today is January 25th. This blog has been sitting in my “To Do” tasks for about three weeks now. I think it’s pretty funny that I’ve been procrastinating about writing a blog on procrastination! According to Wikipedia “Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task which needs to be accomplished. It is the practice of […]
Where There is a Will, There is a Way
One of the most common myths about estate planning is “I have a will so my assets won’t go through probate.” Wrong! A probate is determined by the types of assets a decedent has and how they are titled, regardless of whether the decedent has a will. Last Will and Testament If you have a […]
Will your child become Little Orphan Annie?
Be Prepared! Although I was never a Boy Scout, their motto rings true for all of us. I remember my early days of being a first-time mom and the effort and skill it took to pack the diaper bag. I never knew what to expect so I planned for every contingency… diapers, wipes, toys, extra […]
Attorneys Get Paid per Word! And Other Untruths…
Why is my trust so long? As an estate planning attorney who provides comprehensive, solution-oriented planning documents to clients, I get this question almost every week. I have to chuckle, knowing that in the olden days attorneys did get paid per word of each document they created. But not anymore. Most estate planning attorneys work […]
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 […]
Prevention is the Best Medicine – Why You Should Consider a Corporate Trustee
Revocable living trusts are a powerful and commonly used estate planning tool. Whenever a trust is created, there is also an accompanying position created called the trustee. The trustee is a person or entity appointed within the trust document that is responsible for the administration and management of the trust. The trustmaker usually names himself […]
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 […]
Basic Guide To Estate Planning
Since estate planning attorneys are deeply involved in the intricacies of the field, they sometimes forget that many people don’t really understand what is involved. View image | gettyimages.com That’s why it is usually good to review the basics. An article on cheatsheet.com does just that. Estate planning zeroes in on you being able to […]