How to Organize Digital Assets

December 28, 2020

Did you ever wonder what happens to old emails, videos, or photos when people die? Some family stories become headlines, when families battle with big tech firms to get their loved one’s photos or business records. Today, you need to plan for how to organize digital assets, as explained in a recent article “Don’t leave grieving relatives searching for your passwords: Here’s how to organize your digital life before you die” from USA Today.

Your digital life includes far more than your photos or business records. It includes financial accounts, like PayPal or Venmo, websites, videogames, online investment portfolios, social media, online video games and anything for which you need a password.

Social media accounts that are not closed down or deleted when someone dies, are at risk of being taken over by cybercriminals, who use the accounts to get access to financial accounts and use the decedent’s identity to commit crimes across the internet.

Start by making a list of all of your accounts, including account numbers, usernames and passwords. If the account has two-factor authentication, you’ll need to include that information as well. If the account uses biometrics, like a facial scan, you’ll need to find out from the platform itself how you can create a directive to allow another person to gain access to the account.

Your will needs to reflect the existence of digital assets and name a person who will be your digital executor. Many states have passed legislation concerning how digital assets are treated in estate planning, so check with your estate planning attorney to learn what your state’s requirements are.

In many cases, the best option is to use the platform’s own account tools for digital assets. Google, Facebook, PayPal, and a number of other sites offer the ability to name a legacy contact who will be able to gain some access to an account, to access the information and to delete the account in the event of your death.

One big issue in digital estate planning is that some platforms automatically delete accounts and their contents, if the account is inactive for a certain amount of time. Content may be lost forever, if the proper steps are not taken.

Some financial advisors maintain online portals, where their clients may store important documents that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. This may be an option, in addition to keeping an organized list of digital assets in the same location where you keep your estate planning documents.

We all live in a digital world now, and when a person dies, it’s challenging to locate all of their accounts and gain access to their contents. Your grandchildren may be able to figure out some workarounds, but it would be much easier if you organize digital assets and make them a part of the conversation you had with your children when discussing your estate plan.

If you would like to learn more about digital assets and how to protect them, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: USA Today (Nov. 25, 2020) “Don’t leave grieving relatives searching for your passwords: Here’s how to organize your digital life before you die”

Elder Financial Abuse on the Rise during the Pandemic

December 23, 2020

The same isolation that is keeping seniors safe during the pandemic is also making them easier targets for scammers, reports WKYC in a news report “Northeast Ohio family warns of elder financial exploitation.” While this report concerns a family in Ohio, seniors and families across the country are seeing elder financial abuse on the rise during the pandemic.

Two brothers enjoyed spending their time together throughout their lives. However, for the last three years, one of them, Michael Pekar, has been trying to undo a neighbor’s theft of his brother Ronnie’s estate. A few months before Ronnie died from cancer, a neighbor got involved with his finances, gained Power of Attorney and began stealing Ronnie’s life savings.

The money, more than a million dollars, had been saved for the sons by their mother. Pekar went to see an attorney, who helped uncover a sum of about $1.6 million that had been transferred from Ronnie into other accounts. A civil complaint was filed against the woman and $700,000 was eventually recovered, but nearly $1 million will never be recovered.

How can you prevent this from happening to your loved ones, especially those who are isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic?

An elderly person who is isolated is vulnerable. Long stretches of time without family contact make them eager for human connection. If someone new suddenly inserts themselves into your loved one’s life, consider it a red flag. Are new people taking over tasks of bill paying, or driving them to a bank, lawyer, or financial professional’s office? It might start out as a genuine offer of help but may not end that way.

The person committing the elder financial abuse does not have to be a stranger. In most cases, family members, like nieces, nephews or other relatives, prey on the isolated elderly person. The red flag is a sudden interest that was never there before.

Changes to legal or financial documents are a warning sign, especially if those documents have gone missing. Unexpected trips to attorneys you don’t know or switching financial advisors without discussing changes with children are another sign that something is happening. So are changes to email addresses and phone numbers. If your elderly aunt who calls every Thursday at 3 pm stops calling, or you can’t reach her, someone may be controlling her communications.

According to the CDC, about one in ten adults over age 60 are abused, neglected, or financially exploited.

With elder financial abuse on the rise during the pandemic, be sure to check in more frequently on elderly family members. Increased isolation can lead them to rely on others, making them vulnerable. I you would like to learn more about elder abuse, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: WKYC (Nov. 19, 2020) “Northeast Ohio family warns of elder financial exploitation.”

Ethical Will Should Be Part of Your Planning

December 22, 2020

Scenes like this have taken place across the country since March, and many patients and loved ones have had strained conversations over phone or video calls, struggling to find the right words and hoping that their words can be heard. However, it’s impossible to share all of the family’s thoughts during this most trying of times, says a recent article “The Importance of Writing an Ethical Will—for You and to Those You Love” from The Wall Street Journal. The increasing interest in estate planning during the pandemic has seen many Americans waking up to the realization they must get their estate plans in order. They focus on preparing wills, health care proxies and powers of attorney, which are important. However, there is another document that needs to be completed. An ethical will should be part of your planning.

The ethical will is a statement used to transmit an individual’s basic values, history and legacy they would like to leave behind. It’s usually directed to children and grandchildren, but it can have a larger audience as well, and be shared with the friends who have become like family over a lifetime, or to communities, like houses of worship or civic groups.

The act of writing an ethical will as part of your planning reveals things the writer may not have even been aware of or leads to connections being made that had never been imagined. It is a chance to preserve parts of the person’s history, as well as the history of their ancestors. It is a wonderful gift to share your deepest wishes with those who are so important to you. An ethical will can bond people and generations, whether the letter is shared while you are living or after you have passed and lead to a sense of belonging to something bigger than each individual.

One of the most famous ethical wills was written by Shalom Aleichem, the famous Yiddish writer, and was printed in The New York Times after his death in 1916. While prepared as a last will and testament, it was a wonderful story that shared his values. He suggested that family and friends meet every year on the anniversary of his death, select a joyous story from the many he had written and read it aloud and “let my name be mentioned by them with laughter rather than not be mentioned at all.”

Even those of us who are not skilled writers have thoughts and wishes and history to share with our loved ones. Here are some questions to consider, when preparing your ethical will:

Who is it directed to?
Were there specific people and events who influenced your life?
What family history or stories would you want to pass on to the next generation?
What ethical or religious values are important to you?

While you work on completing a new estate plan, or updating an existing plan, take a moment to consider your ethical will and what you would like to share with your loved ones. The time to complete your estate plan and your ethical will should be part of your planning.

If you would like to learn more about different parts of a comprehensive estate plan, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 17, 2020) “The Importance of Writing an Ethical Will—for You and to Those You Love”

Should a GRAT Be Part of Your Estate Plan?

December 21, 2020

A Grantor-Retained Annuity Trust, or GRAT, is funded by the grantor, the person who creates the trust, in exchange for a stream of annuity payments at a predetermined interest rate—the IRS Section 7520 rate. The interest rate in December 2020 is 0.6%, as reported in the article “Transferring Wealth With This Trust Can Yield Big Tax Advantages” from Financial Advisor. Should a GRAT be part of your estate plan?

GRAT assets need only appreciate greater than the Section 7520 rate over the term of the trust, and any excess earnings will pass to beneficiaries, or to an ongoing trust for beneficiaries with no gift or estate tax.

Because the grantor takes back the amount equal to that which was transferred to the trust (often two or three years), which is set by the IRS when the trust is funded, future appreciation over and above the interest rate passes gift-tax free.

There’s little upkeep. Once the trust agreement is in place, a gift tax return needs to be filed once a year. If the trust is set up without a tax ID number, there’s no need to file an income tax return.

The grantor is responsible for the income generated by the asset in the GRAT, but that’s it. If the value of the property is increased following an audit, the gift won’t be increased but the annuity will. If the GRAT property decreases in value, the only out of pocket is the set-up costs.

Assets in a GRAT may be anything from an investment portfolio to shares in a closely held business.

Most GRATs are designed to have the value of the retained annuity be equal to the value of the property that is transferred to the GRAT. If the values are equal, then the amount of the gift for tax purposes is zero, since the value of the transfer less the annuity value is zero.

GRATs are not for everyone. The success of the GRAT depends upon the success of the underlying assets. If they don’t appreciate as expected, then there might not be a significant amount transferred out of the estate after paying for the legal, accounting and appraisal fees. If the grantor dies during the term of the GRAT before payments back to the grantor have ended, the GRAT will be unsuccessful.

Generation skipping transfers cannot utilize GRATS, since the generation skipping tax exemption may not be applied to a GRAT, until the grantor’s death.

Ask your estate planning attorney about whether a GRAT should be a part of your estate plan. If a GRAT is not a good fit, they will know about many other tools available.

If you would like to learn more about how GRATS can play a role in your estate planning, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Financial Advisor (Nov. 30, 2020) “Transferring Wealth With This Trust Can Yield Big Tax Advantages”

How to Balance Homeownership and Medicaid

December 17, 2020

You own your home but are facing the prospect of needing Medicaid to pay for long term nursing home care. You will now have to figure out how to balance homeownership and Medicaid. The challenges begin when homeowners don’t do any Medicaid planning and decide the best answer is simply to gift their home to their children. It doesn’t always work out well for the homeowners or their children, warns the article “Owning real estate without jeopardizing Medicaid paying for nursing home” from limaohio.com.

A key tax avoidance opportunity is usually missed, when real property is gifted outright. The IRS says that if someone owns real estate, when that person passes, the heirs may eliminate a large portion of the taxable gains, if the real estate ends up being sold by an heir for more than the original owner paid for the property.

Let’s walk through an example of how homeownership and Medicaid works. Let’s say Terry buys a farm for $1,000. The cost to buy the farm is referred to as a “tax basis.”

If the family is planning for the possibility of nursing home costs, Terry might want to give that farm away to her children Ted and Zach. She needs to do it at least five years before she thinks she’ll need Medicaid to pay for long-term nursing care, because of a five-year lookback.

When Terry gifts the farm to Ted and Zach, the two children acquire Terry’s tax basis of $1,000. Ted gets $500 of the tax basic credit, and so does Zach.

The years go by and Ted wants to buy out Zach’s half of the farm. The farm is now worth $5,000. So, Ted pays Zach $2,500 for Zach’s half of the farm. Zach now has a tax basis of $500, which is not subject to tax. And Ted receives $2,000 more than his $500 tax basis, and Ted will need to pay capital gains on that $2,000 gain.

It could be handled smarter from a tax perspective. If Terry owns the farm when she dies, then Ted and Zach get the farm through her will, trust or whatever estate planning method is used. If the farm is worth $3,000 when Terry dies, then Ted and Zach will get a higher tax basis: $3,000 in total, or $1,500 each. By owning the farm when Terry dies, she gives them the opportunity to have their tax basis (and amount that won’t be taxed if they sell to each other or to anyone else) adjusted to the value of the property when Terry dies. In most cases, the value of real estate property is higher at the time of death than when it was purchased initially.

There’s another way to transfer ownership of the farm that works even better for everyone concerned. In this method, Terry continues to own the farm, helping Zach and Ted avoid taxes, and keeps the property out of her countable assets for Medicaid. The solution is for Terry to keep a specific type of life estate in the farm. This needs to be prepared by an experienced estate planning attorney, so that Terry won’t have to sell the farm if she eventually needs to apply for Medicaid for long term care.

Your estate planning attorney can assist you in deciding how to balance homeownership and Medicaid. He or she will help your family navigate protecting your home and other assets, while benefiting from smart tax strategies.

If you would like to learn more about nursing home costs and Medicaid, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: limaohio.com (Nov. 7, 2020) “Owning real estate without jeopardizing Medicaid paying for nursing home”

Planning Is Different for a Child with Special Needs

December 16, 2020

Parents and grandparents do all they can to help their children and grandchildren lead their best lives, and that often extends to the child or grandchild’s adult lives. When estate plans are made, people who can afford to, leave money and property to continue to support loved ones. However, planning is different for a child with special needs, explains the article “Planning for loved ones with special needs” from The Sentinel. The child may have been born with a developmental disability or a motor disability or developed mental illness or an addiction.

A person who is not able to work or care for themselves often receives public benefits to pay for food, shelter and medical care. Those public benefits will be jeopardized, if parents or grandparents make the mistake of leaving a gift of money or a bequest. Special needs planning addresses this issue.

Public benefits for people with no assets or income include Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to pay for food and shelter, Medicaid for medical care and the SNAP program for food, among others. Before money is given to a disabled family member or left in an estate plan, a review of the public benefits that are in use or available needs to be done, so benefits are not disrupted.

One example is SSI, a federal program that supports disabled persons who cannot earn enough, which in 2020 means $1,260 or more in a month. A disabled person who earns less than that and owns less than $2,000 in assets can receive $783 monthly to pay for food and shelter. If the person owns the home they live in or owns one car, they may still be considered to have under $2,000 in assets. Clothing and personal belongings are also not counted against the $2,000 asset limit.

However, to continue receiving the full benefit amount, the person cannot receive money from family or friends, since that money could be used for food and shelter. This also applies to “in kind” gifts, such as making a mortgage payment or helping with utility bills. Any direct gift reduces the SSI benefit.

There are ways for parents and grandparents to help their loved one enjoy a better quality of life. However, gifts must be carefully planned and within the laws. For instance, a family member may purchase certain services for a disabled person that would not disrupt their benefits. A parent or grandparent could pay for auto repairs, cell phone and land line phone services, educational expenses, medical care and social services. One very important note: the payments must be made directly to the merchant or provider and not to the disabled person.

There are two primary tools used to consider, when planning for a child with special needs or disabled person:

Special Needs Trust: The gift is placed in the control of a trustee who manages the money, invests it, makes the appropriate tax filing and makes the decision about when to distribute funds.

Most family members don’t understand the web of complex regulations that dictate how public benefits work. Properly created and managed by a responsible trustee, the Special Needs Trust avoids putting the burden of financial care on other family members and lets money be wisely distributed.

Money and property in a Special Needs Trust is not considered to be an asset of the individual, as it is owned by the trust. However, the same restrictions apply to making direct distributions from the trust to the individual beneficiary for food and shelter.

The other account is an ABLE account, created by the Achieving a Better Life Experience law. Anyone can contribute to it and money in the account is not considered income and not counted against the asset limitations. Contributions are currently capped at $15,000 per year, and the account cannot contain more than $100,000.

Distributions from the ABLE account can be used to pay for a wide array of expenses for a disabled person without impacting government benefits. That includes housing, transportation, assistive technology, health, education and other needs. Families need to be aware that the disabled individual owns the assets in the ABLE account. If they are unable to manage money or are susceptible to scams, the family will want to be cautious about putting funds into the account.

If you would like to learn more about planning for a child with special needs, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: The Sentinel (Nov. 20, 2020) “Planning for loved ones with special needs”

Probate Is Required For A Surviving Spouse

December 15, 2020

Probate, also called “estate administration,” is the management and final settlement of a deceased person’s estate. It is conducted by an executor, also known as a personal representative, who is nominated in the will and approved by the court. Probate is required for a surviving spouse. Estate administration needs to be done when there are assets subject to probate, regardless of whether there is a will, says the article “Probating your spouse’s will” from The Huntsville Item.

Probate is the formal process of administering a person’s estate. Probate is required for a surviving spouse. In the absence of a will, probate also establishes heirship. In some regions, this is a quick and easy process, while in others it is a lengthy, complex and expensive process. The complexity depends upon the size and value of the estate, whether a proper estate plan was prepared by the decedent prior to death and if there are family members or others who might contest the will.

Family dynamics can cause a tremendous amount of complications and delays, especially if the family has blended children from prior marriages or if a child has predeceased their parents.

There are some exceptions, when the estate is extremely small and when probate is not required. However, in most cases, it is required.

A recent District Court case ruled that a will not admitted to probate is not effective for proving title and thereby ownership, to real estate. A title company was sued for defamation after the title company issued a title report that included the statement that the decedent had died intestate, that is, without a will.

The decedent’s son, who was her executor, sued the title company because his mother did indeed have a will and the title report was defamatory. The court rejected this theory, and the case was brought to the Appellate Court to seek relief for the family. The Appellate Court ruled that until a will has been admitted to probate, it is not effective for the purpose of proving title to real property.

If a person owns real estate, they must have an estate plan to ensure that their property can be successfully transferred to heirs. When there is no estate plan, heirs find out how big a problem this can be when someone decides they want to sell the property or divide it up among family members.

Problems also arise when the family, or surviving spouse, finds that they must pay taxes on the property, or that there are expenses that must be paid to maintain the property. Without a will, the disposition of the property is determined by the state’s estate law. Things can become complicated quickly, when there is no will.

If the deceased spouse has children from outside the most recent marriage, those children may have rights to the property and end up owning a portion of the property along with the surviving spouse. However, neither the children nor the surviving spouse can sell the property without each other’s approval. This is a common occurrence.

There are also limitations as to how probate can be used to distribute and manage an estate. In some states, the time limit is four years from the date of death.

If you are a surviving spouse and required to go through probate when there is no will, an estate planning attorney can help you move through the probate process more efficiently. A better situation would be for the family to speak with their parents about having a will and estate plan created before it’s too late.

If you would like to learn more about probate, and how to protect your spouse and children, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: The Huntsville Item (Nov. 22, 2020) “Probating your spouse’s will”

Deciding Between Separate or Joint Trusts

December 14, 2020

Deciding between separate or joint trusts is not as straightforward a choice as you might think. Sometimes, there is an obvious need to keep things separate, according to the recent article “Joint Trusts or Separate Trusts: Advice for Married Couples” from Kiplinger. However, it is not always the case.

A revocable living trust is a popular way to pass assets to heirs. Assets titled in a revocable living trust don’t go through probate and information about the trust remains private. It is also a good way to plan for incapacity, avoid or reduce the likelihood of a death tax and make sure the right people inherit the trust.

There are advantages to Separate Trusts:

They offer better protection from creditors. When the first spouse dies, the deceased spouse’s trust becomes irrevocable, which makes it far more difficult for creditors to access, while the surviving spouse can still access funds.

If assets are going to non-spouse heirs, separate is better. If one spouse has children from a previous marriage and wants to provide for their spouse and their children, a qualified terminable interest property trust allows assets to be left for the surviving spouse, while the balance of funds are held in trust until the surviving spouse’s death. Then the funds are paid to the children from the previous marriage.

Reducing or eliminating the death tax with separate trusts. Unless the couple has an estate valued at more than $23.16 million in 2020 (or $23.4 million in 2021), they won’t have to worry about federal estate taxes. However, there are still a dozen states, plus the District of Columbia, with state estate taxes and half-dozen states with inheritance taxes. These estate tax exemptions are considerably lower than the federal exemption, and heirs could get stuck with the bill. Separate trusts as part of a credit shelter trust would let the couple double their estate tax exemption.

When is a Joint Trust Better?

If there are no creditor issues, both spouses want all assets to go to the surviving spouse and state estate tax and/or inheritance taxes aren’t an issue, then a joint trust could work better because:

Joint trusts are easier to fund and maintain. There is no worrying about having to equalize the trusts, or consider which one should be funded first, etc.

There is less work at tax time. The joint trust doesn’t become irrevocable, until both spouses have passed. Therefore, there is no need to file an extra trust tax return. With separate trusts, when the first spouse dies, their trust becomes irrevocable and a separate tax return must be filed every year.

Joint trusts are not subject to higher trust tax brackets, because they do not become irrevocable until the first spouse dies. However, any investment or interest income generated in an account titled in a deceased spouse’s trust, now irrevocable, will be subject to trust tax brackets. This will trigger higher taxes for the surviving spouse, if the income is not withdrawn by December 31 of each year.

In a joint trust, after the death of the first spouse, the surviving spouse has complete control of the assets. When separate trusts are used, the deceased spouses’ trust becomes irrevocable and the surviving spouse has limited control over assets.

Your estate planning attorney will be able to help you decide between separate or joint trusts based on which is best for your situation. This is a complex topic, and this is just a brief introduction.

If you would like to learn more about estate planning for married couples, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Kiplinger (Nov. 20, 2020) “Joint Trusts or Separate Trusts: Advice for Married Couples”

There is a Difference Between Alzheimer’s and Dementia

December 10, 2020

Many people see dementia and Alzheimer’s as the same thing. However, there is a difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia. Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a group of symptoms that affect memory, communication abilities and activities of daily activities. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia. It affects roughly 60-80% of the people with dementia.

Alzheimer’s is a specific disease, and dementia is a syndrome or category, explains The Advocate in its recent article “Alzheimer’s Q&A: What’s the difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia?”

It usually is seen in those persons age 65 and older.

Dementia symptoms can result from other causes that develop earlier in life, like Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which can show up in middle age or earlier.

Both dementia and Alzheimer’s can cause memory impairment, language difficulties, as well as cognitive decline.

Common symptoms linked to Alzheimer’s include the following:

Difficulty remembering recent events and conversations
Depression
Personality and behavioral changes
Impaired judgment
Trouble speaking; and
Confusion and disorientation.

Some causes of dementia will share these symptoms. However, they include or exclude other symptoms, which can help in making a differential diagnosis.

Alzheimer’s disease is degenerative, incurable and irreversible. This illness is the only one of the top 10 causes of death that has no prevention, maintenance, or cure.

Approximately 20% of the causes of dementia can be reversed with the proper diagnosis and treatment. These reversible conditions include the following:

Vitamin deficiency or metabolic disorder
Normal pressure hydrocephalus
Alcohol or drug abuse
Brain tumors; or
HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders.

The process and assessments to land on a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease are typically more complex than other forms of dementia. A detailed medical history is taken, and other conditions are ruled out as causes for the symptoms.

Brain imaging scans may indicate pronounced brain cell death that’s associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease can only be completely confirmed after a person passes away. An autopsy will show the plaques and tangles associated with the disease. This will also exclude other causes.

If you would like to learn how dementia and other disorders impact estate planning, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: The Advocate (Nov. 16, 2020) “Alzheimer’s Q&A: What’s the difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia?”

How Do You Handle A Large Inheritance?

December 9, 2020

How do you handle a large inheritance? Wealth Advisor’s recent article entitled “Death by inheritance: Windfall can cause complications” cautions that in a community property state, if you’re married, your inheritance is separate property. It will stay separate property, provided it’s not commingled with community funds or given to your spouse. That article says that it is much harder to do than it looks.

One option is for you and your spouse to sign a written marital agreement that states that your inheritance (as well as any income from it) remains your separate property. However, you have to then be careful that you keep it apart from your community property.

If your spouse doesn’t want to sign such an agreement, then speak to an attorney about what assets in your inheritance can safely be put into a trust. If you do this, take precautions to monitor the income and keep it separate.

Another route is to put your inheritance into assets held in only your name and segregate the income from them. This is important because income from separate property is considered community property.

Another tip for handling a large inheritance, is to analyze it by type of asset. IRAs and other qualified funds take very special handling to avoid unnecessary taxes or penalties. If you immediately cash out your inherited traditional IRA, you’ll forfeit a good chunk of it in taxes. If you don’t take the mandatory distribution of a Roth IRA, you’re going see a major penalty.

Inherited real estate has its own set of issues. If you inherited only part of a piece of real property, then you’ll have to work with the other owners as to its use, maintenance, and/or sale. For example, your parents’ summer home is passed to you and your three siblings. If things get nasty, you may have to file a partition suit to force a sale, if your siblings aren’t cooperative. Real estate can also be encumbered by an environmental issue, a mortgage, delinquent taxes, or some other type of lien.

Some types of assets are just a plain headache: timeshares, partnership, or entity interests that don’t have a buy-sell agreement, along with Title II weapons (which may be banned in your state).

You can also refuse an inheritance by use of a disclaimer. It’s a procedure where you decline to take part or all of an inheritance.

Finally, speak with an experienced estate planning attorney that is familiar with how to handle a large inheritance, so you can incorporate that inheritance into your own estate plan.

If you would like to learn more about inheritance, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Wealth Advisor (Nov. 10, 2020) “Death by inheritance: Windfall can cause complications”

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Blog Articles

Elder Financial Abuse on the Rise during the Pandemic

Ethical Will Should Be Part of Your Planning

Should a GRAT Be Part of Your Estate Plan?

How to Balance Homeownership and Medicaid

Probate Is Required For A Surviving Spouse

Deciding Between Separate or Joint Trusts

There is a Difference Between Alzheimer’s and Dementia

How Do You Handle A Large Inheritance?

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