Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Leaving an Inheritance to Your Nieces and Nephews: Generous Gesture or Family Obligation?
Maintaining close connections with extended family members these days takes work. Think about how much more often you saw your cousins when your grandparents were alive than you do now. Your parents visited their parents, and the siblings of your parents also visited their own parents, so the cousin relationship happened naturally. When adult… Read More »
Is Assisted Living a Bait and Switch?
If you are over the age of 55 and you own a house, a retirement account, or both, then at some point, you have probably heard a retirement planner breathlessly extol the virtues of assisted living facilities. To hear them tell it, assisted living facilities are the best place for retirees to live if… Read More »
Draft Your Trust Instrument Wisely to Prevent Trustee Drama
“Irrevocable” is a scary word. Many seniors establish revocable trusts to keep their property out of probate, even though a revocable trust does not carry the tax benefits that an irrevocable trust carries while the grantor is alive. As the grantor of a trust, you write the trust instrument, and then the trust functions… Read More »
How to Stop Your Spouse From Inheriting From You
Disinheriting your relatives is easy, in theory. When a deceased person’s estate goes through probate, the decedent’s will is the most authoritative document in determining who inherits what. If a family member believes that the testator disinherited him or her unfairly, or that the decedent wanted the family member to receive an inheritance, contrary… Read More »
Golden Romance Is an Act of Estate Planning
When young people fall in love, there are monsters lurking in the shadows. Which monsters you fear the most depends on your own situation and those of people you know. Some people fear teen pregnancy, followed by a lifetime of financial stress and co-parenting conflict with your ex, your parents, and eventually your own… Read More »
Is Running Out of Money During Retirement a Fate Worse Than Death?
When you are young, everyone wishes you a long life, as though simply making it to an advanced age is a win. Once you are on the other side of 50, though, the realities of old age set in. How much longer will your old bones be able to get through a day’s work,… Read More »
Be Proactive Instead of Reactive About the Medicaid Five-Year Lookback Period
When you are gainfully employed, you probably only think about publicly funded healthcare programs in the most general of terms. You might think that Medicare is for seniors, but Medicaid is for children and for disabled adults of working age, who will presumably switch to Medicare when they turn 65. There is more overlap… Read More »
Understanding Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts
Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts (MAPTs) upend every stereotype you have ever heard about trust fund babies. By nature, the beneficiaries of a MAPT are elderly, or at least old enough that they do not take it for granted that, six years from now, they will be healthy enough not to need nursing home care…. Read More »
Having a Plan for More Than Just Finances Can Protect You From the Retirement Curse
Most of us take comfort in the fact that our circumstances will change substantially at some point in the future. We only have to suffer in the heat, paying more than we can afford for air conditioning, until the summer ends. Eventually, we will grow up and move out of our parents’ house, even… Read More »
Can You Have a Better Retirement Than Your Parents?
Some of the online content about achieving better financial circumstances is manipulative, and some of it is downright mean-spirited. It might play on your wishes to buy your mother a house that she can decorate to her own tastes after she spent your entire childhood living in rented accommodations, spending all her time off… Read More »