The battle over the estate of Dorothy Whelan has come to a close with a high court ruling. The estate of Dorothy Whelan has received considerable press in the U.K. by estate planning blogs and news site. It has now come to a conclusion through a high court ruling upholding an earlier will. Here are […]

A Texas case ends up in criminal charges when a will to probate is rejected by the court. Eight days before wealthy Dallas business woman Mary Ellen Bendtsen passed away in 2005, a will was executed that left her entire estate to two antique dealers. One of the dealers submitted the will to probate the […]

What was once a common assignment for students to reflect on their own lives and dreams by writing their own obituary has now become available through the Internet for preservation and to reach a larger audience. The short obituaries once reserved in the publishing world for newspapers, focused on birth date, relatives, work, date of […]

Many parents and grandparents with 529 savings plans aimed at helping with college expenses may not be getting the full benefit from them. As college tuition continues its steady rise the issue of growing college tuition and student loan debt has become a key issue at home and in politics as well as the 2016 […]

The Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” has had an impact on the taxes of investment income but estate planning techniques can reduce it. The intention of the Affordable Care Act was to increase the number of recipients of health insurance without increasing costs. While the accomplishments of the Act are often debated it appears the […]

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is charging that kickbacks for sales agents are common in the annuities industry and should be considered before making a purchase. The purchase of an annuity is a common approach to offsetting the expense of retirement as it becomes more difficult to save sufficiently for later years. An annuity can help […]

The appointments of a health care agent and a financial power of attorney can sometimes lead to conflict. Conflict can sometimes arise between a financial power of attorney with authority over a person’s financial affairs and a health care agent under a health care proxy with authority over a person’s medical affairs. While they are […]

An elderly woman decided to handle the issue of heirs by sending a clear message with shredded money and accounts. An 85-year-old nursing home resident decided to send a loud and clear message to her heirs when 950,000 Euros and saving accounts books were found in tiny pieces on her bed when she died. It […]

Survivors are almost always emotional when dealing with the passing of a loved one, but if the deceased is a business owner it is important to limit the impact on businesses and operations. The drama that surrounds survivors after a death can affect businesses of all sizes from tiny Mom & Pop operations to large […]

Online communications is gaining importance not only in social lives but in financial lives, as well, as seen in recent cases. Requests for access to digital assets by families, executors and trustees are being made with more and more frequency. Sometimes access is requested to a social media account to assess the deceased’s state of […]