For most people, the ultimate goal of estate planning is to promote family harmony. If your family members get along well, you want your plan to encourage more of the same. If they don’t, you want to avoid adding more…
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Do you have married children? Are you thinking about your estate planning? If the answer to both is yes, one of your goals is probably making sure your hard-earned assets end up with your own grandchildren should your child get…
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Do you have an estate plan that protects your minor child if you pass away? It’s essential that you do. If nothing else, this pandemic has demonstrated that no one is immune. Hopefully you will be around a long time…
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The dog ate my homework! That time-worn excuse usually gets an unprepared student an “F”. But suppose Rover isn’t interested in your homework, but in your last will and testament? That could result in an “L” – as in lawsuit. …
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Electronic Wills Come With Perils Electronic wills became legal in Florida on January 1, 2020. As we reported in June, the passage of HB 409 allows wills to be created online, then signed, notarized and witnessed without requiring the will maker,…
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Online web sites that allow the creation of do-it-yourself estate planning documents have some serious downsides. Among them: making it easier for people with nefarious motives to create fraudulent documents. From Arkansas comes an interesting case that illustrates the danger….
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Rock’n’roll lost another icon on September 15 with the death of Ric Ocasek. The 75-year-old lead singer of The Cars died at his New York City townhouse from pulmonary and cardiac complications following surgery. Now, there are complications in his…
moreHere is another, and surely not the last example of the perils of an ambiguously worded last will and testament. This story was reported in the September 7, 2019 New York Daily News. New York City psychologist Jill Morris died in 2016 of…
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This is not the forum to discuss the lurid details of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Others are doing a thorough job of that. However, there is one aspect of the saga with direct relevance to our readers: how trusts can…
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Increasing numbers of people are fleeing high tax states for lower-tax environments such as Florida. People have always moved to Florida to escape estate taxes and income taxes, of course. However, the migration has kicked into higher gear of late…
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