On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Tuesday, June 11, 2013. When you are living in the moment going about your day to day responsibilities you may find it difficult to imagine a time when you will be approaching retirement age. As understandable as this may be if you are two or three decades away from your 60s, you have to take action if you want to be prepared for retirement.At the present time the baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age, and studies a...
On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Friday, June 7, 2013. When you read about the gift tax and the estate tax as you're doing research into long-term planning you may hear about a $5 million exclusion. This is often mentioned as either a gift tax exclusion or an estate tax exclusion, so it can be kind of confusing.You have to understand that the gift and estate taxes are said to be "unified" by the Internal Revenue Service. As a result, the $5 million exclusion t...
On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Thursday, June 6, 2013. There are certain basic responsibilities that you assume by simply becoming a self-supporting adult. This is something to keep in mind if you are one of the many who is procrastinating about putting an estate plan in place.In 2010 there was an article in Forbes magazine that highlighted the lack of preparedness among Americans in general when it comes to estate planning. As you might expect, younger adul...
On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Wednesday, June 5, 2013. There are people who get themselves into trouble because they don't have enough information about long-term care. One of the misconceptions that some people buy into is the notion that it is unlikely that they will ever need long-term care. This idea flies in the face of reality. In fact, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services approximately 7 out of every 10 Americans who...
On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Tuesday, June 4, 2013. It doesn't matter how much time you spend or how much your estate plan cost you, if your family can't find it when the time comes, it will cost them in the end. The first task for your family after you pass away is to locate your estate plan. For some families this is easy, but for others this is a daunting task. There are numerous places where you can keep your documents, so choosing one depends on its a...
On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Monday, June 3, 2013. If you are legally married your spouse is going to be recognized as your next of kin by the law. As a result there are some built-in protections available to you even if you did not execute estate planning documents recording your wishes.There are intestacy laws of succession that would hold sway and your spouse would be first in line. He or she would also be the individual that the medical community would...
On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Friday, May 31, 2013. When you arrange for the distribution of assets to your loved ones via the use of a last will everything is held up until the estate has been probated.Probate is the legal process of estate administration and it takes place under the auspices of the probate court. In addition to the fact that the heirs to the estate do not receive their inheritances until it has been probated and closed probate can be expe...
On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. It is always kind of difficult to part with your hard earned money and hand it over to the taxman. In spite of this, the vast majority of people can accept the fact that paying taxes is simply a part of life and that the revenue that is generated is necessary.However, people are generally going to take exception to being asked to pay taxes that others are not required to pay. There are also many who fee...
On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Tuesday, May 28, 2013. When you think about estate planning the financial aspect may be the first thing that comes to mind and of course it is important to prepare your assets for eventual distribution to your loved ones after your passing. However, this is not the only component to a well conceived, holistic estate plan. To be fully prepared it is important to consider the possibility of incapacitation as well.If you were to b...
On behalf of The Elder and Disability Law Firm, APC on Friday, May 24, 2013. When you are planning for retirement you may want to set a target date to shoot for so that you have a destination firmly in sight as you traverse your life's path. While it is not wise to be overly reliant on Social Security because of the limitations of the program, a lot of people will plan their retirement dates based on their age of Social Security eligibility. It is important to recognize the fact th...
