When you get together with an estate planning attorney to draw up your will you are logically going to be focused on how to optimize your assets and transfer them to your heirs in the most effective and efficient manner possible. This is all well and good, but there is another piece to the puzzle […]

Estate planning can involve the implementation of some rather sophisticated strategies intended to prevent your assets from eroding as they change hands after you pass away. But what are these sources of erosion? Are money, property, and securities subject to some natural force that inevitably whittles them down in the same manner that a river […]

A number of states, including Mississippi, are considering opting out of the federal Medicaid program.  Link  This would no doubt solve the annual budget crisis that plagues Mississippi over Medicaid shortfalls each year, but at a heavy cost.  Almost every nursing home resident is a Medicaid recipient, and those that are not soon will be […]

In the realm of estate planning 2010 was a uniquely good year, because for the first time since it was enacted in 1916 there was no estate tax. This levy was repealed for one year due to a provision included in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act that was passed back in 2001. […]

Mississippi currently participates in a Medicaid waiver program that will pay for in-home care.  This is a good program that permits families to care for loved ones in home at a much lower cost than the institutional care provided in nursing homes.  The patient prefers to be at home, the family prefers the family member […]

It is understandable that planning for the possibility of death or incapacitation would be one of the last things on your mind when you are a young adult. However, the fact remains that as soon as you are married and have your first child, you have a family that is depending on you. From that […]

In the parlance of estate planning, a QPRT is a qualified personal residence trust, and they are used to remove the value of your home from your estate for tax purposes. Let’s say that you plan to leave your home to your daughter after you pass away. You place the house into the trust, and […]

There are some activities that you engage in with the full knowledge that these are ongoing processes, and others that would seem like one-time events. Because a lot of people put off planning their estates for any number of reasons, when they finally get around to it drawing up a plan can seem like a […]

When you are inventorying your assets as you plan your estate, it is a good feeling to recognize that you are in a position to give something back through ongoing charitable giving. Giving to your favorite charities is indeed its own reward, and there are those who feel that a growing wave of philanthropy may […]

Are you in the beginning of your estate planning process? If so, here is an essential checklist to guide you through the process of creating a Last Will and Testament. Enumerate Your Belongings The first step of the estate planning process is to list your estate holdings. When you list your assets you will also […]