Writing down your life’s story can be helpful to both you and your loved ones. There are several benefits to keeping track of your life in written form. Don’t worry if you’re not a writer; you don’t have to write a book. Keeping track of your daily life by documenting notes, photos, movie stubs, and other pieces of life’s little moments is enough. Continue reading
Writing down your life’s story can be helpful to both you and your loved ones. There are several benefits to keeping track of your life in written form. Don’t worry if you’re not a writer; you don’t have to write a book. Keeping track of your daily life by documenting notes, photos, movie stubs, and other pieces of life’s little moments is enough. Continue reading
IRAs are one the trickiest assets for estate planning attorneys to handle for many reasons. First, they often are overlooked in the estate planning process because they cannot be transferred during lifetime. This asset, like some other assets, are controlled by beneficiary designation. While the client might remember a large IRA, they often forget smaller IRAs. As a result, beneficiary designations often are left unchanged even when circumstances have changed, making those designations no longer appropriate. Continue reading
When an individual applies for Medicaid assistance in a nursing home, one of the first questions that is asked of them has to do with whether a transfer has been made of any asset for less than fair market values within five years (60 months) of the date of the application. If such a transfer has been made, a “penalty period” will result depending on the value of the gift. The larger the gift, the longer the penalty period. Continue reading
What Do You Own?
John and Helen have been thinking about updating their estate plan. They called and made an appointment with Paul Plant at Harwell & Plant. John and Helen updated Paul on their current family situation. They have three children who are now on their own and successfully pursuing careers. After listening to the short update on the three children, Paul turned to a review of John’s and Helen’s property. Continue reading
