Beneficiary Comment: Common Mistakes When Making Designations Once you’ve bought an annuity or a life insurance policy and named your beneficiaries in your account, you may never think about those beneficiary designations again. However, that could be a big mistake. Specific agreements, such as those made during a divorce, can significantly impact your beneficiary designations. […]

“If you have a child or other family member who has special needs due to physical or mental conditions, you face a variety of challenges planning for their care, including financial ones.” Well-meaning relatives may not understand that putting a family member with special needs in their will could put your family member’s lifestyle and […]

“How do we move into probate, so we do not lose the house and bank accounts, while not killing ourselves in the process?” When parents die suddenly, in this case due to COVID-19, and there is no will and no discussions have taken place, siblings are placed in an awkward, expensive and emotionally fraught situation. […]

“Advocates are celebrating an important victory for individuals who provide care for their parents at home. The new decision will likely lead to a substantial expansion in the number of homes transferred to those caregivers.” A New Jersey Appellate Division recently reaffirmed the state’s regulation that allows older adults to transfer their homes to adult […]

“If you are planning to take another walk down the aisle, it is critical to take the time to review and revise your estate plan, especially if meaningful assets and debts are being brought into the marriage.” The assets you and your second spouse bring into the marriage need to be carefully considered when revising […]

“The For the 99.5% Act reduces the estate tax exemption to $3.5 million per individual and $7 million per couple. The bill adds higher tax brackets for larger estates.” U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has released proposed legislation named “For the 99.5%” Act. If passed in its present form, the legislation would bring estate tax exemptions […]

“The press has made much of the handwritten will that Larry King executed in the months before he died and in which he purports to change his prior will executed in 2015, to leave his estate equally between his children.” The dispute over Larry King’s estate shines a harsh spotlight on what happens when an […]

“Qualified Charitable Distributions, which allow Individual Retirement Account holders in their 70s and older to divert some of their federally taxable required distributions to charity while reducing their federally taxable income, are back after a 2020 hiatus.” Qualified charitable distributions allow individual retirement holders to divert some of their federally taxable required distributions to charity, […]

“Just as you have trust in a relationship, trusting your document and those with responsibilities in the trust are crucial to obtaining your objectives.” A trust of any kind is a document that expresses your wishes while you are alive and after you have passed. The need for a dedicated trust for loved ones differs […]

Fewer than one-third of family businesses survive into the second generation, while only 13 percent make it to the third generation. Here are some tips to beat the odds and help your business live on for generations to come. The sooner you start the planning process the better The sooner you start planning for succession, […]