Ancillary Probate: When It Is Used, Where It Occurs, and How to Avoid It
Many people own property in more than one state, such as an ocean-side vacation home or a rental property in a former home state. It is important to think about ...
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Why Title Matters
Real estate can be owned in several different ways. The form of ownership, or how your property is titled, can determine how much control you have over it, how vulnerable ...
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Does my Spouse’s Citizenship Affect my Estate?
Noncitizen spouses are treated differently than US citizen spouses for estate and gift tax purposes.[1] They do not get the unlimited marital deduction. Married US citizen spouses can generally transfer ...
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Estate Planning When a Family Member Has a Disability
Many famous figures have argued that how a society treats its most vulnerable members is a measure of its humanity and moral character. As Mahatma Gandhi famously observed, a society ...
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The Overlooked Risk in Every Estate Plan: Disability
Disability is often treated as a remote possibility, something that happens to other people. Yet one of the most persistent blind spots in planning conversations is disability risk. Disability is ...
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Planning for Yourself While Caring for Someone with a Disability
Most of us have been on a plane and heard the preflight safety instructions that include some version of the oxygen mask principle: Secure your own mask before assisting others. ...
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Your Future Caregivers May Not Be Who You Think They Are
Experts warn of a growing national crisis unrelated to politics, the economy, or the usual headline grabbers. It is a caregiving crisis, and it now touches nearly one-fourth of American ...
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The Hidden Burden: What It Really Means to be an Executor, Trustee, or Agent under a Power of Attorney
An 80-year-old widower relied on his adult daughter for help with his daily life and finances for more than a decade. During that time, she managed his finances under a ...
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Backup Plans Are Loving Too: Why You Need Contingent Agents and Guardians
Progressive Insurance recently rolled out a series of commercials featuring “backup” quarterbacks stepping in to handle everyday challenges, such as ordering food, giving advice, and even parking a trailer. After ...
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Protect Your Estate from Cyberthreats
Well, that doesn’t seem right. It usually starts with something small. A strange email from a bank you do not recognize. A new credit card account you do not remember ...
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Secure Your Digital Wallet: Cryptocurrency and Your Estate Plan
In 2013, British IT worker James Howells accidentally threw away a hard drive while cleaning his house. Only later did he realize that it held the private key to 8,000 ...
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Do Not Let Your Digital Life Die with You
Today, so much of what once existed in material form now lives entirely online. Our photos, finances, business operations, and even our identities are stored on devices and platforms and ...
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Happy New Year!
Each year, my first blog post focuses on updates to estate tax laws that take effect in the new year. Before diving into the details and numbers, I want to ...
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Whom Should I Tell About My Estate Plan?
Creating an estate plan is typically a private matter, not something you share in detail with everyone in your life. After all, what you choose to do with your money ...
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Committed, Protected, Prepared: Estate Planning Tips for Unmarried Partners
More couples than ever are building deep, lasting relationships without ever walking down the aisle. Whether by choice, circumstance, or principle, many Americans are opting out of marriage—but not out ...
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