Compliments of Our Law Firm,By: The American Academy of Estate Planning AttorneysDeb was like most of the rest of us. She was responsible. She took care of herself and her family, got an eye exam once a year, and visited the dentist every six months. She also made sure that she had an estate plan in place and even reviewed and updated it regularly. Imagine her surprise when she discovered that the estate planning attorney she had relied on for the past ten years was retiring!It’s … [Read more...]

Compliments of Our Law Firm,By: The American Academy of Estate Planning AttorneysThe term “estate planning” calls to mind the process of creating a Will, establishing a Living Trust, or naming a Guardian for young children. One piece of the estate planning puzzle that might not be readily apparent, though, is insurance.When it comes to planning your estate, insurance in its many forms has an important role to play, both in allowing you to build and preserve wealth during your lifetime … [Read more...]

Compliments of Our Law Firm,By: The American Academy of Estate Planning AttorneysMost grandparents act as caregivers for their grandchildren to one degree or another. For some, it may be watching the little ones while mom and dad enjoy a much-needed evening out, while for others caring for grandchildren may be a long-term arrangement.According to data collected in the 2010 census, 4.9 million children under age eighteen live in grandparent-headed households. Most of these children … [Read more...]

Compliments of Our Law Firm,By: The American Academy of Estate Planning AttorneysYour parents were watching over you, smiling and encouraging, as you took your first tentative steps. As a teenager, they handed you the keys as you took the car out on your own for the first time. They were there with guidance and advice, sometimes requested and sometimes not, as you left childhood and navigated young adulthood.Now that your parents are entering their twilight years, they are the ones … [Read more...]

Compliments of Our Law Firm,By: The American Academy of Estate Planning AttorneysPicture this: at the end of your long, fulfilling life, surrounded by your extended, loving family, you say goodbye and peacefully leave this world. And then... your family declares war on each other. Suddenly, family members are unhappy with the contents of your estate plan, and old rifts between loved ones reopen, possibly never to heal. Where do the disagreements end? In litigation, where your estate is … [Read more...]

Compliments of Our Law Firm,By: The American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys"You may delay, but time will not," Benjamin Franklin. Everyone knows that they need an estate plan, but few of us do anything about it. In fact, according to a 2007 study, more than 55% of Americans don't even have a simple Will. And yet, the clock is ticking for all of us. So why don't more of us actually put together an estate plan? For some, it's a morbid fear that by thinking about death, we'll hasten … [Read more...]

A Roth IRA has some important distinctions from a traditional IRA, and, depending on your tax bracket, your retirement needs, and your estate planning goals, a Roth could be a much better option for you. So, what's the difference between the two types of IRAs?The Traditional IRA A traditional IRA is a "tax-deferred" retirement account. This means that contributions are generally tax deductible for the year in which you make them, but when you retire and begin to withdraw money from your … [Read more...]