When you hear some news that is better than it could have been your initial feeling about it often changes over time. For example, if you twisted your ankle badly while you were out jogging and went in for an x-ray you would be hoping that it wasn’t broken. If the x-rays do in fact […]

It is understandable that a lot of people wind up putting estate planning on the back burner for a number of different reasons. For one thing, you tend to put off the unpleasant things that you would rather not think about. This is an emotional choice, but even if you have no problem addressing your […]

Estate planning involves the protection, optimization and preparation of your assets for transferal to your loved ones after you pass away. However this event does not take place in a vacuum, so this type of planning also involves recognition of the realities that you may well be facing toward the end of your life. Planning […]

So we now have a $5 million estate tax exclusion, and it is important to emphasize the fact that this $5 million exclusion is per person, so married couples could combine their respective exclusions and enjoy a $10 million estate tax cushion. Now let’s say you were to sit down with your estate planning attorney […]

Social Security is something that people tend not to think much about until they start to get closer to retirement age. So if you haven’t yet done your research you may not be aware of the fact that the amount of your benefit can vary based on when you choose to apply for Social Security. […]

Different people approach estate planning in different ways and with varying priorities in mind. Estate planning attorneys will work with their clients according to these priorities if this is what they would prefer, but many people approach professional planners looking for comprehensive solutions. Most would agree that this holistic approach is best because the overarching […]

When you are being proactive in an effort to make sure that you are totally prepared for all of the eventualities of aging there is a great deal to consider, and a significant financial demand to take into account. Between the period when you retire and the end of your life, you may go through […]

One of the big stories in estate planning circles in 2010 was the fact that the estate tax was repealed for the one year, but it was supposed to return in 2011 with only a $1 million tax exemption. Instead, congress in the eleventh hour of 2010 expanded the exemption to $5 million, and expanded […]

When you look into the topic of wills on the Internet, you see any number of fill-in-the-blanks DIY will kits being offered, and this is very interesting. These days more and more people are choosing to do things for themselves that they once entrusted to professionals, and there are many motivations behind this trend. For […]

They say that death and taxes are the two sure things, but who is to say that they should walk hand in hand? Critics like to call the estate tax the “death tax,” and the label is more an accurate description than it is a mere sarcastic flippancy. When you think about it, the assets […]