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One of my guiding business philosophies comes from the great philosopher Bugs Bunny “You can’t take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.” I attribute this quote to Bugs Bunny because I recall having seen him say it once, but it is possible that the sentiment comes from somewhere else. I […]
Why I Love Being An Estate Planning Attorney
When college students I meet find out I am an attorney, many seem to want to connect with me and tell me they want to be an attorney also. I would ask them why do you want to go to law school. Many times the answer is “to make a lot of money.” I often […]
The One Big Thing You Should Know About VA Aid And Attendance Benefits
Wartime Veterans – Don’t Owe Your Soul to the Nursing Home Both of my grandfathers served during World War Two. One was a gunner’s mate on the USS Tennessee, and the other was a Corpsman in the Navy. Neither of my grandfathers really talked about the war that much, but their experiences significantly impacted their […]
How to Involve Family In Your Estate Plan – Get on the Bus
When I was a little kid, I used to sing the song, “The Wheels on the Bus.” I would sing about the wheels on the bus going round and round, the wipers on the bus going swish, swish, swish, the driver on the bus, and the people on the bus. When I became a parent, […]
Making Beneficiary Designations Work for You
You spend hours setting up the perfect estate plan, and you are set up exactly the way you want. Everything seems perfect, and then it comes time to implement the plan. But wait, what is this? Your assets are transferring outside of the perfect plan? How can that be? What is going on? What happened? […]
Estate Planning 101: The Four Methods of Transfer & Who Gets What
I am amazed at how often people want a will written to make sure their assets go where they want when they die, but have never considered what other methods of transferring assets exist. And…what different types of asset transfer options are available to use. These people want me to write a will to make […]
How to Determine Mental Capacity for a Will or Estate Plan
Your mind matters! I often have people I meet who feel the need to apologize to me for not having created an estate plan before they met with me. Many times this comes from an older couple who realized that they should have planned sooner. I think I addressed that attitude in my last blog […]
I’ll Get To It Tomorrow
As a child, I watched the movie “Annie” where the little orphan Annie sings the lines: “Tomorrow, tomorrow. I love ya, tomorrow. You’re always a day away.” Annie is singing about how the sun will come out tomorrow, and that she will have brighter prospects for her life in the orphanage because of the sunny […]
How Are Trusts Taxed (and Trust Assets Inside Them)
I had a client a few years back who had me draft a trust for them, one that needed its own separate tax return. The client also hired me prepare the tax return for the trust after the first year of the trust’s existence. After the next year, the client decided that I was too […]
So, You Didn’t Have a Will? Now What?
Let me start this blog by being very upfront: I do not handle probate cases, and I don’t represent anyone in probate. However, I must know about the probate rules, and what happens in the probate process since I work to either minimize what goes through probate, or to make the probate process easier on […]
