When you are looking into the subject of estate planning on the Internet you’ll hear frequent mention of probate avoidance, and many laypeople are not aware of exactly what probate is let alone why you’d want to avoid it. So to provide a brief explanation probate is the process that your estate must pass through […]

Because estate planning involves preparing for an event that will only take place once it is not something that most people delve into in any great detail except when they’re actively engaged in creating their plan. So there are a lot of financial instruments that are commonly used by estate planning attorneys that the average […]

The Kaiser Foundation reports that Mississippi's Meicaid rolls increased by 75,000 between December 2007 and December 2009, from 521,000 to 596,000.  In a state with a population of about 3,000,000, that represents almost 1 out of ever 5 people in the state.  No word from the Govornor's office on how many of those 596,000 actually […]

Governor Barbour is advocating block grants for state Medicaid programs, under the auspices that states need the freedom and flexability to design Medicaid programs around each states' unique needs.  The trouble with this proposal is that it ignores the fact that states routinely ignore the requirements of Medicaid coverage law now.  For example, Mississippi is […]

When you are making plans for the latter stages of your life and the ultimate distribution of your assets to your loved ones after your death you have to take number of things into consideration. When it comes to estate and inheritance planning per se there is the purely financial part of the equation when […]

As we move forward into the new year all of the details of the new tax relief legislation are coming into clear focus. The most significant facts that are applicable to estate planning involve the exclusion amount and the rate of taxation. The estate tax was repealed throughout 2010, but under the tax code as […]

Almost half of all Americans over the age of 65 will spend time in a nursing home at some point in their lives. When one of your family members is in need of this type of care it is necessary to do plenty of research to find the best and safest facility within your budget. […]

When you start to get serious about planning your estate it is very likely that you will recognize the fact that it is best accomplished with the assistance of an elder law attorney. In the same manner that a tax accountant is going to save you more money than the service is going to cost […]

Most people can accept the fact that taxes are going to be levied and they simply make out the check dutifully and put the unpleasant matter behind them. But how would it feel if that tax bill kept being presented over and over again? This is the spiral that the estate tax brings with it, […]

A recent article points out the beneifts of Pet Trusts.   As the article points out, unfortunatley, Mississippi is on one of the few jurisdictions around the country that does not recognize pet trusts by statute.  Nonetheless, it is possible to provide for funds for support of your pet in Mississippi through your estate plan.  […]