Since the new tax laws in place doubled the standard deduction to $12,000 for single taxpayers and $24,000 for those married filing jointly, this means that you need to understand how this affects your itemized deduction planning. There are changes that repeal or limit many itemized deductions, such that in 2018, 90% of taxpayers will […]

Your estate planning documents certainly need to be updated after you get married for a second or third time, but have you overlooked this common mistake of failing to update your beneficiary designations.  Beneficiary designations outline how the property will pass to people on items such as your life insurance policy, your IRA and certain […]

Since the federal estate tax exemption is at an historically high level of over $11 million, this leads to many questions brought by a client to estate planning attorneys about portability mechanism. These portability mechanisms have to do with a client’s unused exemption at death and many people are choosing to keep their estate planning […]

An uncooperative trustee named as responsible for your trust management could prove especially problematic for your loved ones but only after the fact when you are no longer around to change this person or to do anything about it.  An uncooperative trustee is someone who is not living up to his or her legal obligation […]

Contemplating your estate planning considerations after getting married for a second time is especially important because there are critical issues that could easily be overlooked that could leave your children from your first marriage or even your new spouse at a disadvantage.  What follows are two different estate planning tips and considerations for those in […]

When your loved ones come home to help you deal with a significant medical crisis or even to help you wrap up your estate after you have passed away, you could put them in a very difficult situation by not having any access to these critical financial documents and other materials.  Not knowing where your […]

Stan Lee recently passed away and details show that his tangled estate planning could be a complicated web for heirs to navigate. Unfortunately, far too many celebrity deaths paint a picture of just how devastating it can be when estate planning is not managed appropriately. The co-creator of super heroes, such as Spiderman and Captain […]

Has your life changed at all in the last year? Did you have estate plans contingent on prior versions of tax law that are no longer relevant? Don’t let the end of the year pass you by without taking the opportunity to set up a quick meeting with your accountant and your lawyer. These two […]

Many families avoid the process of estate planning altogether but even those who take the necessary steps to schedule a consultation with an estate planning attorney can still cause problems for their loved ones in the future due to lack of communication.   It is certainly not easy to confront your own mortality and definitely not […]

Often grandparents are the ones asking questions about whether or not to use an educational trust. This raises further questions about whether or not one fund should be set that all of them are eligible to tap into or individual funds for each person. Planning for a loved one’s education is an important contribution that […]