The main purpose of a will is to direct where your assets will go after you die, but it can also be used to instruct your heirs how to pay your debts. While generally heirs cannot inherit debt, debt can reduce what they receive. Spelling out how debt should be paid can help your heirs.
Parents want their children to be taken care of after they die. But children with disabilities have increased financial and care needs, so ensuring their long-term welfare can be tricky. Proper planning by parents is necessary to benefit the child with a disability, including an adult child, as...
A bill known as the SECURE Act is currently making its way through Congress and is expecting to become law with nothing more than minor changes. Key provisions of the SECURE Act include: Increasing the required beginning date (RBD) for required minimum distributions (RMDs) from 70 ½ to 72...
Despite well-publicized cases like that of Terri Schiavo, most Americans still do not have "advance directives" that give caregivers instructions on the kind of care they would like to receive should they become terminally ill or permanently unconscious.
Nursing home patients are less likely to be subjected to unwanted medical interventions or hospitalizations under a program that offers an alternative to simple advance directives, according to a new study. While advance directives or "living wills" provide general guidance on what type of...
Legendary singer Aretha Franklin was thought to have died without a will, but the recent discovery of handwritten documents in her home are calling that into question. A representative of her estate has asked a Michigan probate court to determine if any of the documents could be considered a va...
In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. - Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789, which was re-printed in The Works of Benjamin Franklin, 1817. And as most of you are all too well aware, sometimes those two things occur at the same time,...
Medicare's hospice benefit covers any care that is reasonable and necessary for easing the course of a terminal illness. It is one of Medicare's most comprehensive benefits and can be extremely helpful to both the terminally ill individual and his or her family, but it is little understood and un...
Traditionally, Medicaid has paid for long-term care in a nursing home, but because most individuals would rather be cared for at home and home care is cheaper, all 50 states now have Medicaid programs that offer at least some home care. In some states, even family members can get paid for provi...
While the execution of wills requires formalities like witnesses and a notary, the reality is that most property passes to heirs through other, less formal means. Many bank and investments accounts, as well as real estate, have joint owners who take ownership automatically at the death of the pr...
A power of attorney is one of the most important estate planning documents you can create, but it is also one that can be misused. While it isn't possible to entirely prevent the possibility of abuse, there are steps you can take in drafting the document to greatly reduce the chances.
A new report that combines nursing home quality data with a survey of family members ranks the best and worst states for care and paints a picture of how Americans view nursing homes. The website Care.com analyzed Medicare's nursing home ratings to identify the states with the best and worst o...
Caring for an ailing family member is difficult work, but it doesn't necessarily have to be unpaid work. There are programs available that allow Medicaid recipients to hire family members as caregivers. All 50 states have programs that provide pay to family caregivers. The programs vary by st...
Paying for day care is one of the biggest expenses faced by working adults with young children, a dependent parent, or a child with a disability, but there is a tax credit available to help working caregivers defray the costs of day care (called "adult day care" in the case of the elderly). In...
How frequently you should review your estate plan depends on how old you are and whether there has been a significant change in your circumstances. If you are over age 60 and you haven't updated your estate plan in many decades, it's almost certain that you need to update your documents. Afte...
Under California law, any person age 65 or older has standing to petition for a restraining order against an individual alleged to have engaged in abusive conduct, even if there is no special relationship between the alleged abuser and victim, such as a caretaking or custodial relationship.
The key is to make your plans and prepare for problems BEFORE they happen. An article explaining why one should prepare before a crisis arises appeared on OakPark.com in “START WITH A PLAN (not a heart attack).” The article details an incident that happens all too often.
The medical procedure may be routine. However, you still need to be ready with answers. Many documents, including a living will or health care directive, may now need to be in place before medical procedures, according to the Kirkland Reporter in “Take control of health care decisions in 2019 ...
What is the next step if aging parents can no longer easily handle financial and legal affairs? The transition of adult child to caregiver can create some real challenges, when it comes to helping aging parents, according to the Monterey Herald in “Financial planning: Family communication help...
A periodic review will also give you an idea of any changes that are necessary. A will is certainly something that should be completed. However, it isn't a document to put on the shelf and forgotten because as your life and government laws change, so should your will, according to The Item in...
Regulators move to halt abuse. However, fraud is still at $30 billion. Financial abuse of the elderly is high in the U.S., with estimates at $30 billion, and that sum doesn't include unreported cases, according to Consumer Reports in “3 Critical Ways to Prevent Elder Financial Abuse.” Some c...
Benefits are available to ex-spouses under certain circumstances. As retirement approaches and Social Security benefits become available, it is important for divorced people to be particularly aware of their entitlement rights, according to Yahoo! Finance in “3 Things to Know About Social Sec...
Why is the revocable trust so appealing? You can change it whenever you'd like. You do not have to have a lot of money or assets in order to benefit from the use of trusts, according to Barron's in “Why a Trust is a Great Estate Planning Tool – Even if You're Not Rich.”
You may not want the real estate. However, there are numerous options. Sometimes people inherit real estate, but they don't really want it. That is when you should become educated in your responsibilities and rights, according to AOL in “What to do when you inherit real estate that you don't w...
Check your estate plan for changes required to meet the requirements and opportunities. Changes created by the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act create a need to revisit your estate plan, if you have not already done so, according to The Kansas City Star in “Talk to estate attorney about im...
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