For the Love of Your Family
For the Love of Your Family
The recent death of the CEO of QuadrigaCX, a major cryptocurrency exchange in Canada, demonstrates a basic, yet often-overlooked, tenet of effective estate planning: In the event of your incapacity or death, if your heirs don’t know how to find or access your assets, those assets are as good as gone. Indeed, it’s as if […]
Read MoreIf you’re an animal lover and have a pet of your own, you likely consider your pet to be a member of the family. And since your furry friends can provide protection, emotional support, and unconditional love, such consideration is often well deserved. In stark contrast, the law considers your pet nothing more than personal […]
Read MoreLast week, we shared the first part of this series discussing the hidden dangers of do-it-yourself estate planning. In part two, we cover one of the greatest risks posed by DIY documents. You might think you can save time and money by using do-it-yourself estate planning documents you find online. You’re probably anxious to check […]
Read MoreGo online, and you’ll find tons of websites offering do-it-yourself estate planning documents. Such forms are typically quite inexpensive. Simple wills, for example, are often priced under $50, and you can complete and print them out in a matter of minutes. In our uber-busy lives and DIY culture, it’s no surprise that this kind of […]
Read MoreIf you’re active on social media, Facebook probably plays a prominent role in your life. And now the social media titan can even play a role in your afterlife. Today, estate planning encompasses not only your tangible assets—bank accounts and real estate—but your digital assets as well, such as cryptocurrency, websites, and social media accounts. […]
Read MoreWith the cost of long-term care (LTC) skyrocketing, you may be concerned about your (or your elderly parents’) ability to pay for lengthy stays in assisted living and/or a nursing home. Such care can be massively expensive, with the potential to overwhelm even the well-off. Because neither traditional health insurance nor Medicare will pay for […]
Read MoreAretha Franklin, heralded as the “Queen of Soul,” died from pancreatic cancer at age 76 on August 16th at her home in Detroit. Like Prince, who died in 2016, Franklin was one of the greatest musicians of our time. Also like Prince, however, she died without a will or trust to pass on her multimillion-dollar […]
Read MoreSome people assume that because they’ve named a specific heir as the beneficiary of their IRA in their will or trust that there’s no need to list the same person again as beneficiary in their IRA paperwork. Because of this, they often leave the IRA beneficiary form blank or list “my estate” as the beneficiary. […]
Read MoreProbably every parent who has watched the news lately has felt the heartbreak over what’s happening to immigrant families at the border due to the Trump administration’s immigration regulations. As you likely know, the administration’s new “zero-tolerance” policy has led to the separation of more than 2,300 children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border […]
Read MoreIn the 1980s, the late actor Alan Thicke played the wise-but-hip father figure and psychiatrist Dr. Jason Seaver in the sitcom Growing Pains. Following Alan’s sudden death in December 2016, with his children and widow battling over his estate, one can only wonder what sage advice Dr. Seaver would have had for Thicke’s heirs. Alan […]
Read MoreEstate planning really should be considered as soon as you acquire your first asset, have a child, or step into adulthood in any truly meaningful way. And yet many of us put it off for far too long, leaving ourselves and our families at risk of getting stuck in the court system in the event […]
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