What the rest of us need to know about estate planning
The term Living Will is incredibly misleading and confusing as it has nothing to do with a Last Will & Testament (a/k/a Will). A Living Will also has NOTHING to do with a Living Trust. So what is a Living Will? Here’s another self-important phrase – Advanced Directive. Sounds like something from a Sci-Fi show…
Tying the knot in Massachusetts does not give each spouse an automatic “all assets default to the surviving spouse,” estate plan. Under Massachusetts Probate laws, if a spouse dies without a Will (or trust) in place, assets, in the name of one spouse only, do not automatically go to the surviving spouse. The spouse may…
This Doctor says it as well as I’ve ever seen it – “So many of us have intentions of one day writing out our plans and instructions for end-of-life care, but most of us put that task off, for when we’re older or sicker. But the truth is, none of us knows when we will…
Trusts – yes most of us should have one. It is not something only for the super-wealthy. A trust allows us to build our own vault and privately, set the terms and conditions under which assets in that vault are distributed to the people of our choosing (beneficiaries) after a certain event happens. Trusts are…
Hey, the kids are almost all out of the house…now it’s OUR time…well maybe not. Phew, we’re out of diapers and baby monitors, now we can relax, get a good night’s sleep, “un-childproof” the house…well maybe not. Often, we now become the caretakers for an aging parent. We are part of the “new and invisible…
Surprise…Congress did something major at the very end of last year that impacts retirement accounts – investment options, required distributions for certain classes of beneficiaries. You may have heard that the federal appropriations bill enacted into law by Congress and the President in the final weeks of 2019 includes changes to the federal tax code…