Year: 2016
A St. Louis case demonstrates how a blended family can be a challenge for estate planning. Both millionaires when they married in 1980, Mary Lee and Robert Hermann Sr., who had children from previous marriages, signed a prenuptial agreement aimed at protecting their own respective children. According to the Riverfront Times in “In Probate Court, […]
While payable-on-death accounts seem to be an easy answer for transfers they do not come without challenges. Payable-on-Death accounts, sometimes called Pay-on-Death or Transfer-on-Death, seem to be easy and therefore a popular method for transferring assets after the account owner dies. But this approach to estate planning must be carefully considered. The money in the […]
What happens if you receive your annual booklet on Medicare Part D prescription drug plans and your prescription drugs have been removed from list? Many seniors end up wondering what their next step is when Medicare prescription plans change the drugs they cover and a booklet with the information is sent out annually. Recently, Elder […]
The amount of long-term-care insurance premiums that can be deducted from your taxes has been increased. The sustainability of long-term-care insurance has been questioned recently concerning losing coverage after missing premium payments. Against this backdrop, however, the Internal Revenue Service might be trying to encourage the purchase of long-term-care insurance as it has increased the […]
The deadline to file the basis for property distributed from an estate by Section 6035 of the tax code is extended by the IRS. The Surface Transportation and Veteran’s Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 was signed into law last summer with a provision unrelated to the act which required that people filing an […]
Getting prepared for meeting with an estate planning attorney can improve efficiency. Meeting with an estate planning attorney for the first time can be much more productive if you have prepared in advance. Recently, the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog offered some tips about how you can prepare and make that first meeting with […]
Since there are often tax obligations when settling an estate it is important for an executor to know what needs to be filed. Knowing how to properly handle tax issues when settling an estate is one of an executor’s key responsibilities. Not handling it properly can result in the executor having personal liability. Bluffton Today […]
Registering a deed after the original owner passes away is risky. Probate can sometimes be avoided by using joint ownership so when the parents pass away the property automatically transfers to the children. There are drawbacks to the “do it yourself” estate planning approach. For starters, when the children are added as joint owners the […]
If you appoint one of your children as power of attorney you should make certain they can handle the job. The person you would want to handle your affairs if you are incapacitated is one of the questions you may have to face in preparing an estate plan. The first instinct of most people is […]
A court in California has joined other states in refusing to enforce a nursing home arbitration clause. Marjorie Fitzpatrick, an elderly California woman who entered a nursing home in 2012, fell outside unsupervised and suffered injuries which led to her death. Her estate filed a wrongful death suit against the facility. However, the contract with […]
