Estate Planning

While sometimes a bit tough to think about, it’s really important to understand Advance Health Care Directives and end-of-life decisions. After all, everyone should be entitled to live their life as they choose, right down to the very end. There are two options when it comes to end-of-life decisions: to prolong life or not to prolong life.
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When a loved one passes away and you find that you are a beneficiary of his or her estate, you may not know whether you need an attorney or not. While there may already be an attorney involved, he or she is likely acting in the interest of either the executor (if there is a will) or the trustee (if there is a trust). So when should you consider hiring an estate planning attorney to represent you personally? Here are 5 reasons.
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You’ve probably heard of the importance of estate planning, but you still may not know its real purpose. It is certainly true that estate planning is used to ensure that your loved ones receive your assets and are cared for after you pass away.

When you die intestate (without a Will), you have no control over who will receive what.
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When someone is living with a disability that makes them unable to sustain gainful employment, Social Security Income (SSI), Medicaid (known as MediCal in California), and other government benefits can often help to put a roof over their head and food on their table. But in order to qualify for these benefits, the individual must make under a certain amount of money and must not have enough money to independently support them. Money sitting in their bank account can be counted against their ability to qualify.

Due to this situation, it essentially works to prevent people with special needs from building savings whether gained through inheritance, gifts or earned income. This begs the question of how can they save money without jeopardizing these benefits?

Special Needs Trust

One option is to create a Read more . . .

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t been at least slightly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. For many Americans, it has greatly injured their livelihoods and financial health. As we move forward in light of COVID-19, it’s important to determine whether any of your estate planning documents must be revised based upon how your estate value has been impacted.

Therefore it’s important that you speak with a knowledgeable and Read more . . .

As our economy continues to suffer as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, millions of Americans are experiencing severe loss of income as well as mounting debt. For Baby Boomers and older Americans who have planned and saved for retirement, this was far from expected. Instead of leaving their children with large assets, it’s likely that many older Americans will leave their children and other heirs with bills when they pass. Does this mean that younger generations will be stuck with even more debt? Luckily, that’s probably not the case.

The last thing that you want to concern yourself with when mourning the loss of a parent or close loved one and tying up loose ends is to have to worry about how you’re going to be able to pay for any debts they did not pay off.
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As you make a living, you likely contribute a percentage of your income each paycheck to your retirement fund. If you work for yourself, you (hopefully) put away an amount of money for the same each month. As a result, your retirement ends up being one of your largest assets.

While most people worry that they haven’t saved enough money to comfortably retire, others worry about what may happen to their retirement assets should they not use them all prior to passing. This begs the question of what happens to your retirement funds in the probate process?

While most assets go through the probate process, not all of them do.
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While marriage used to be standard for cohabitation, such is no longer the case. Many people choose to cohabitate with each other without being married. However, despite the absence of a marriage certificate, long-term partners or companions are often as dedicated and connected as those who are married. The main difference though is that Read more . . .

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wage war on the American economy, small businesses are feeling the effects. Many business owners are left wondering about the future of their companies. But with so much else going on, they often fail to proactively plan for the future. Now is a great time to do so. Even after navigating through the era of coronavirus, if small business owners fail to establish an estate plan, some day when they die, the business will simply die with them.
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From unclogging a toilet to building a house, with the Internet and sites like YouTube being more popular than ever, you can pretty much figure out how to do anything yourself. This can prove extremely helpful when you want answers now – and want to save money in the process. However, it’s important to understand what you should – and shouldn’t – do yourself.

One thing you shouldn’t DIY: your Read more . . .

One of the most important responsibilities that a parent has is to look out for the safety and wellbeing of his or her children. This is why it is so important to prepare for the guardianship of your child. Guardianship is the legal process that allows an individual who is named to serve as the final decision maker for another person.

But while consideration should be given to whom you wish to assign the position to, special consideration should be given for those who have children with special needs. People with Read more . . .