Tom Benson passed away in 2018 at age 90. He left behind a significant empire that included multiple car dealerships and two professional sports teams out of New Orleans. Sadly, however, many of the last years of his life were spent with his heirs arguing over who is entitled to receive what. The legal battle [...]
According to Schwab's 2017 Modern Wealth Survey, plenty of people are simply uncomfortable talking about their finances with their family and friends. However, if any of these people play an important role such as personal representative, executor, trustee or beneficiary in your own estate plan, it could be a big mistake to skip out on [...]
Research shows that people who have average health and moderate levels of wealth will be better off deferring their Social Security benefits until age 70, when they can. However, approximately 90% of those who are eligible to get those benefits, claim them before the full benefit age of 67. Of course there are many different [...]
Many people are under the impression that if they do not have significant assets that meet the estate tax laws in their country that they do not have an estate. But no person is exempt from having a complicated, large or even messy estate. Even people who assume that they have very little still have [...]
In the digital stage, estate administration requires going one step further and ensuring that you have an appropriate strategy to share the passwords to your email and online accounts as well as your computer. Things can get complicated for your personal representative, estate executor or family members if you haven't thought this process through. Many [...]
Too many baby boomers have looked ahead to plan for their retirement but have neglected how long term care expenses could influence their ability to have a comfortable life after their working years. A recent Banker's Life study found that 74% of baby boomers felt confident in their ability to handle future health care costs, [...]
The themes of making a last minute change to your will or changing a gift on your death bed might seem interesting or a great storyline for a movie, but these can cause many more families to end up in a state litigation which could potentially decimate the value of the overall estate you intended [...]
A major concern for parents of minor children is who will be appointed in the will to take care of the child if the parents pass away. If both of the parents play a relatively equal role in raising the child together, whether it is through the participation of both, or in the case of [...]
If you recently moved to a new location from a different state, you need to make sure that your estate planning documents have been updated to show law controls in your new location. An attorney can assist you with putting together an amendment to your living and revocable trust that applies to your new state's [...]
Do you have a plan to protect yourself from the costly expenses of long term care? Far too many people avoid making a goal of protecting their assets from being decimated by long term care. Most people might assume that long term care expenses only arise in a nursing home situation but a recent study [...]
