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Don’t Send Your Kids Back to School Without These Documents

April 29, 2024

As summer comes to a close, and back-to-school excitement fills the air, there is one crucial task that i...

Latest Articles

There is no shortage of advice flying around about estate planning, much of it from people who aren't even lawyers. Get insight on the popular pitfalls and how emerging economic shifts like cryptocurrency can affect your plan.

Don’t Send Your Kids Back to School Without These Documents

As summer comes to a close, and back-to-school excitement fills the air, there is one crucial task that i...

3 Reasons Why Transferring Ownership Of Your Home To Your Child Is A Bad Idea

Whether it’s to qualify for Medicaid, avoid probate, or reduce your tax burden, transferring ownership of...

How Naming Guardians For Your Kids In Your Will Can Leave Them At Risk

If you are a mom or dad with children under the age of 18 at home, your number-one estate planning priori...

Protect Your Children’s Inheritance With A Lifetime Asset Protection Trust

As a parent, you’re likely hoping to leave your children an inheritance. In fact, doing so may be one of ...

What To Expect From Your Initial Meeting With A Personal Family Lawyer®

Whether you’ve met with an estate planning lawyer before or it’s your first time, it’s important to under...

Don’t Leave Your Children With The Babysitter Until You Read This

As we head into the third year of the pandemic, we are coming to terms with just how fragile our lives an...

How to Pass Down Your Family Wealth Legacy During The Holidays

As you likely already know, but may not have given much thought about, the most important inheritance you...

Think You Are Too Young to Need An Estate Plan? Think Again.

The pandemic has caused Americans to change their behavior in a number of different ways, and one of the ...

2021 Estate Planning Checkup: Is Your Estate Plan Up to Date?

Even if you put a totally solid estate plan in place, it can turn out to be worthless for the people you ...

Estate Planning Must-Haves For Single Parents

If you are a single parent, life for you right now probably couldn’t get any busier. You are likely being...

Estate Planning For A Child With Special Needs: What Parents Need To Know

Estate planning is an obvious concern for all parents, but if you have a child with special needs, it’s c...

3 Estate Planning Issues For LGBTQ Couples—Part 2

Whether you are married or not, if you are involved in a committed partnership with another individual, e...

3 Estate Planning Issues For LGBTQ+ Couples—Part 1

Whether you are married or in a committed partnership, estate planning is about much more than planning f...

Looking for the Best Mother’s Day Gift Ever? Try The Kids Protection Plan

Although we initially planned to run part two of last week’s post on Aretha Franklin’s failed estate plan...

Managing Child Care While Dealing With Illness: Tips For Parents—Part 2

Even though there are now vaccines for the pandemic and the number of new cases is on the decline, becomi...

Managing Child Care While Dealing With COVID-19: Tips For Single Parents - Part 1

Even though there are now vaccines for COVID-19 and the number of new cases is on the decline, becoming i...

4 Reasons Why You Can’t Afford to Go Without An Estate Plan

October 19th-25th, 2020 is National Estate Planning Awareness Week, so if you've been thinking about crea...

Supreme Court Case Could Impact LGBTQ Adoption, But There Are Alternatives

A case on the Supreme Court’s docket for October could have a major impact on the parental rights of same...

Who Would Care For Your Children If You Got Sick With COVID-19?

The pandemic is causing us to consider a lot of things that we may not have before, even if maybe we shou...

3 Unique Ways to Handle the Guilt Inherent to Being a Parent

If you’re a parent, you may feel even more guilty than usual. If so, you are definitely not alone. Curren...

A Map to Doing the Right Thing for the People You Love During COVID-19

Right now, huge numbers of people are coming face to face with their own mortality, and realizing they ne...

CORONAVIRUS: Impact to Your Wealth, Health and Happiness

While it’s still hard to tell how the Coronavirus will impact us in the long term, it’s become a subject ...

Buyer Beware: The Hidden Dangers of DIY Estate Planning—Part 2

Last week, we shared the first part of this series on the dangers of do-it-yourself estate planning. Here...

Who Will Be Emani’s Legal Guardian After the Death of Her Dad?

In the aftermath of rapper Nipsey Hussle’s murder this March, his family and ex-girlfriend have been lock...

Why You Need To Add a ‘When I Die’ File to Your Estate Plan

If you were to suddenly die today, would your loved ones know how to quickly find your estate planning do...

The Real Cost To Your Family: Having No Estate Plan At All

This is the third in an ongoing series of NLBM articles discussing the true costs and consequences of fai...

4 Critical Estate Planning Tasks to Complete Before Going on Vacation

Going on vacation entails lots of planning: packing luggage, buying plane tickets, making hotel reservati...

When Something is NOT Better Than Nothing—Part 2

Last week, we shared the first part of this series discussing the hidden dangers of do-it-yourself estate...

When Something is NOT Better Than Nothing—Part 1

Go online, and you’ll find tons of websites offering do-it-yourself estate planning documents. Such forms...

One Instance Where ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ Might Be A Good Idea

You might not be a big fan of their typical life choices, but the Kardashians recently demonstrated impre...

Do Your Homework to Ensure Your Kids Are Properly Cared For No Matter What

It’s back-to-school time again, and when it comes to estate planning you may have homework to do. As a pa...

Appoint a Guardian to Keep Your Kids In Safe Hands At All Times

Probably every parent who has watched the news lately has felt the heartbreak over what’s happening to im...

A Special Needs Trust Can Protect the Future of Your Child with Special Needs

It always surprises me to hear parents who have a child with special needs tell me that they were not awa...

6 Steps to Select and Name the Right Guardians for Your Children—Part 2

Last week, we shared the first part of our series on selecting and naming the right guardians for your ch...

6 Steps to Select and Name the Right Guardians for Your Children—Part 1

One of your most important responsibilities as a parent is to select and legally document guardians for y...

Before Your Kids Leave For College, Make Sure They Sign These Documents

With high school graduation coming up, many parents will soon watch their children become adults (at leas...

5 Common Estate Planning Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Since estate planning involves thinking about death, many people put it off until their senior years or s...

What to Expect From Your Initial Meeting With Your Personal Family Lawyer®

Whether you’ve met with an estate planning attorney before or it’s your first time, it’s important to und...

Want to Be an Awesome Parent? Stop Stressing and Spend More Time on Self-Care

All parents have undoubtedly felt guilty at some point for not spending enough time with their children. ...

Ready to Write Your Will? Consider This Before You Go It Alone or Online.

A last will and testament is the most commonly thought of document when it comes to an estate plan. But, ...

Growing Family? Time to Audit Your Insurance Policies

As your family size grows, there is lots to prepare for and consider. Welcoming a new family member can b...

Your Rights as the Parent of a Young Adult - What to Know When a Medical Crisis Hits

As a parent, you are most likely quite accustomed to managing the legal and medical affairs of your child...

Commit to Your Estate Plan Before Committing to a Trip Away

If you are planning a vacation, you probably have a lot to prepare for before you get away. Between struc...

Leaving Without a Plan: Prince Didn't Leave a Will & Here's Why You Should

Even after death, celebrities are highly publicized for their mistakes, many of which we make ourselves. ...

Defining the Legal Relationship Between Grandparents and Their Grandchildren

Raising a grandchild (or even spending a lot of time with your grandchild while his or her parents work) ...

When Duty Calls: Navigating the Sandwich Generation with Ease

The average age of parents raising children in the US continues to rise, leaving many middle-aged America...

Spring Cleaning For Your Legal and Financial Affairs

Spring has officially sprung and that means it’s spring cleaning time. Shake out the rugs, clean out the ...

Estate Planning Essentials for Parents

A comprehensive estate plan can protect the things that matter most. For many, this means their property ...

Is Your Family “Too Young” to Need an Estate Plan?

Young families face different estate planning needs and challenges than those who have had a long life be...

Name Legal Guardians for Your Kids for Free On This Website

One of the hardest things to do as a human being is to acknowledge our mortality. Some people even seem t...

Legal Rights of Grandparents: In Honor of National Grandparents Day

When all is ideal in a family, the bond between grandparent and child is a special one. Maybe you’ve even...

Kelly Clarkson Starts Blended Family: What She Needs to Consider

Starting a new family is always exciting and even a tad scary. This natural apprehension can be enhanced ...

Holiday Bonus + Tax Refund Spending: Where to Put it For Max Return

Did you get a holiday bonus from your employer? Or maybe you have a tax refund coming. If so, do you have...

Could an AMBER alert save your child?

As a parent, your number one job is to keep your children safe, and that’s not always easy. In our imperf...

Protecting Your Child with a Special Needs Trust

When you have a family member with special needs, it is important to understand that your estate planning...

What Every Single Parent Needs to Know About Estate Planning

If you are a single parent, life for you right now probably couldn’t get any busier. You are likely being...

How to Tell If It’s Time to Change Your Will

Current research shows that only about half of Americans have a will, and probably less than that have ch...

10 Items That Should be Evaluated During an Estate Plan Review

Estate planning is an ongoing process, and plans should be reviewed with a qualified estate planning atto...

No More Reasons for Delay in Implementing These 5 Estate Planning Essentials

Last year’s uncertainty about the future of the estate and gift tax caused many people to put their estat...

10 Tips to Ensure Family Harmony Over Your Estate Plan

When your children were small, you no doubt suffered the challenge of keeping peace in the family. We see...

Special Needs Trust: Protection for Those Who Need It the Most

Families of those with disabilities - physical or mental - are typically concerned with the best way to f...

How to Create a Lifetime of Care for a Special Needs Child

Parents of children with special needs usually share one overriding concern: what will happen to my child...

Before You Take Off for Summer Vacation, Take On These 5 To-Dos

It’s no surprise that Americans spend more time planning their summer vacations than they do planning the...

A Plan for Protecting Your Most Valuable Asset: Your Children

If you have young children, chances are that your summer activities include some careful planning to keep...

How Real Men Celebrate Father’s Day

Do you know what it takes to be a real man? Although the expectations of both men and women have evolved ...

Greatest Wealth Transfer in History Underway – What’s Your Plan?

A new study from the Boston College Center on Wealth and Philanthropy shows that the greatest wealth tran...

How to Balance Family Memories with Future Plans for a Vacation Home

Summer has officially arrived and for those of us fortunate enough to have a vacation home – whether it’s...

The Perfect Solution for Choosing Your Child’s Guardian

If you have minor children and have not yet selected a guardian, you are not unlike many parents who put ...

How to Care for Children with Special Needs Through Estate Planning

For many people, the basics of estate planning are simple enough, but for those families with loved ones ...

Consider Your Estate Plan Before You Travel

We are fast approaching the holidays, when travel is the busiest and careful planning is necessary to nab...

Family Wealth Planning: The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do Now to Feel Better About Yourself As a Parent – and Leave the World a Better Place – No Matter How Much Money You Have in the Bank

If you are like most of the parents I know, you feel guilty. It’s what parents do. Whether your guilt is ...

Taking the Complexity Out of Estate Planning

Remember that old joke: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time. At the heart of that gag ...

7 Good Reasons You Need An Estate Plan -- Even If You Only Have $500 in the Bank

Contrary to popular belief, estate planning is not just about money or taxes. Far from it. Today, it’s mo...

Why You Should Get Your Kids an Estate Plan

We are fairly certain the last thing your 18-year-old kid is thinking about is an estate plan. And you ar...

Learn From the Expensive Mistakes & Smart Decisions Made By Actor James Gandolfini In Planning for His Estate

James Gandolfini, the actor best known for his portrayal of Tony Soprano on HBO’s The Sopranos, died sudd...

Best Mother’s Day Gift Ever? The Kids Protection Planning Kit®

By now, the flood of floral commercials has already reminded us that Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 12. But ...

Congratulations! It’s an Estate Plan! Protecting Your Newborn From Birth

In the process of becoming new parents, many couples become experts at planning – scheduling the birthing...

What We Can Learn From Downton Abbey About Estate Planning

Downton Abbey – the PBS drama about the fortunes and misfortunes of an aristocratic British family in the...

When It Comes to Inheritance, Treating Children Equally Not Always the Best Plan

While most parents have the inclination to treat all their children equally when it comes to an inheritan...

Avoid these 10 Common Estate Planning Mistakes

As a Personal Family Lawyer®, I see many of the same estate planning mistakes made time and again by peop...

PFL firms in your area

Hi, I’m Pam Starsia. I became a Personal Family Lawyer because I’m passionate about educating and empowering people to create estate, life, ...

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Juniper Law, PLLC

I became a Personal Family Lawyer to help people like you and families like yours plan for the future. Facing the potential for incapacity a...

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Das Law, PLLC

Let’s talk about your death . . . or incapacity. If something unfortunate happens, what will happen to your assets that you’ve worked so har...

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Legacy Lawyers, PLLC

Hi. I’m John W. Heck. I became a Personal Family Lawyer because I have seen the consequences of failed estate planning in my immediate famil...

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Edris Law

In my practice, I focus on Family Protection, Wealth Preservation, and Value-Based Planning. I’m also experienced with wealth planning strat...

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Brown Law Offices

Lisa Brown Esq. is the principal attorney for Brown Law Offices. She received her J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and ...

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Millennium Attorney

Naureen Rahman has been practicing law for over twenty years in the Maryland, DC-Metropolitan area. She has practiced across numerous sector...

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Reflections Life Planning, LLC

I love being able to guide my clients through a unique planning process that empowers them to live a financially fulfilling life now while e...

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I am an attorney dedicated to helping families in Virginia navigate the world of estate planning. With over 22 years of legal experience, I'...

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