Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Minors Inheriting Property
According to a popular stereotype, grandparents love to spoil their grandchildren, even if, a generation earlier, they were strict or aloof toward their own children. Regardless of the nature of your interactions with your grandchildren, they probably take center stage in your estate plan. You want to set aside money for your own long-term… Read More »
Personal Representative Drama and How to Deal With It
Imagine a bride with two sisters, each of whom wants to be the maid of honor at her wedding. As soon as her fiancé put the engagement ring on her finger, scenarios begin to play in her head about how to break the news to one or the other sister that she did not… Read More »
Your Long-Term Care Plans Can Protect Your Children From Financial Hardship
We have all heard about disastrous scenarios where family conflict escalated into permanent rifts because of decisions about medical care for an elderly and infirm relative. The family member who provided the most direct care for the invalid might take the blame for the invalid’s decline in health and eventual death, while the rest… Read More »
A Delayed Retirement Is a Healthy Retirement?
Deciding when to retire sounds like a simple calculation, but there are many unseen factors. For example, you might count backwards from the average life expectancy to your anticipated age at retirement and think you have arrived at the number of years you could enjoy. By this logic, the sooner you retire, the more… Read More »
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 »