Recent Blog Posts
Reconciling With an Estranged Family Member Is a Reason to Update Your Estate Plan
Money can poison relationships between relatives as much as it can poison relationships between friends. In some ways, the less you tell your family about the contents of your will, the better. Before you designate a family member as personal representative of your estate, make sure that he or she is willing to take… Read More »
Bankruptcy and Your Estate Plan
Everyone has the right to file for bankruptcy, and everyone who is old enough to know the word “bankruptcy” needs an estate plan. Therefore, if you are looking for a reason to procrastinate getting started on your estate plan, bankruptcy will not fly. Successful estate planning does not require you to be rich, but… Read More »
Your Estate Plan Should Be Realistic About Your Debts
Many young and middle-aged people aspire to be debt-free someday, and they can find no shortage of online content offering motivation and advice, some of it more practical than the rest, about how to pay off one’s debts. When you are in your 40s, enough of your future is so far away as to… Read More »
How to Collect Debts Owed to an Estate
Conventional wisdom says that the most stressful and worrisome part of being the personal representative of the estate of a deceased person is paying the estate’s debts. Disputes over the validity of a decedent’s will are plenty stressful, but they are also relatively rare. Even if your relationship with your family is not always… Read More »
What to Leave to Your Family Instead of Stuff
As the saying goes, you don’t know what you had until it’s gone. Think about the things you wish you could ask your grandparents if they were still here, or the things you are relieved that you still have. Do you still have family photographs of ancestors that no one in your generation is… Read More »
Should Your Estate Plan Adopt a Scarcity Mindset or an Abundance Mindset?
A scarcity mindset is when you assume that resources are finite, and your goal is to keep enough of them for yourself, regardless of whether other people get enough of the resources to meet their needs. By contrast, an abundance mindset is when you assume that there are enough resources for everyone, even if… Read More »
Living and Dying With No Estate Plan
It is easy to procrastinate working on your estate plan, because death happens to those who are diligent about estate planning and those who are not. What is the worst that can happen if you do not make any written plans for your end-of-life care, the final disposition of your remains, or the distribution… Read More »
Are Inherited Real Estate Properties a Trojan Horse?
With the price of everything increasing, wages stagnating, and an increasing number of employers keeping workers at arm’s length by labeling them independent contractors, it takes more and more money to be considered wealthy, or even middle class. You have to admit, though, that you are more privileged than most if you own a… Read More »
A Second Act Career Is Looking Pretty Good Right Now
Tiny houses in Florida cost a lot less than similarly sized apartments in New York, but are they any match for hurricanes force winds? Besides, the alligators and iguanas come right up to your window. Your Social Security check will go farther in Costa Rica than it will in New York, but do you… Read More »
Decluttering Is No Substitute for Estate Planning
In estate law, anything that is not money or real estate is considered personal property; it includes furniture, jewelry, books, clothing, and all of the other miscellaneous items in your house. For good reason, it is not usually one of the first things that people think about in their estate plans. Therefore, lots of… Read More »