April Review: Boomers, Trusts, and Tupac
Can you believe May is less than a week away? That means it’s time to share our April review of developments in elder law: Boomer Trends Our April review turned up several items related to the aging of the baby boomer generation: The economy. Conventional wisdom says baby boomers’ aging spells doom and gloom for […]
January Review: Avoid Mistakes & Acquire a Talley?
It’s the end of the month. That’s when we like to survey the elder law landscape and share interesting or useful items that surfaced over the past few weeks. Here’s our January review: January’s Planning Tips Here are eight common estate planning mistakes from AARP. The most common errors we see out of those eight: […]
Top Ten Elder Law Lessons from 2022
At the end of each month, we take stock of elder law news and developments and share them. For the December review, we look less to outside news and commentary and instead think about what we (or others) have learned or wish we (or others) had learned before something unfortunate happened. Here are some lessons […]
Inheritance Advice: The ‘Times’ Got It Wrong
The New York Times is wrong. In a recent “Social Q’s” column, a reader asked for inheritance advice. The response was off the mark. (For the purposes of this article, we’ll call the questioner “Reader.” And though the column didn’t reveal Reader’s gender, for easy identification, we’ll assume Reader is female.) Reader describes the circumstances: […]
What About Planning for Your Crypto?
In our recent article about digital assets, we skipped over planning for your crypto. We encouraged getting your digital affairs in order by doing an inventory of all digital accounts so your estate administrators can manage your affairs without additional stress. Crypto requires even more care. The Crypto Basics Cryptocurrency and other “blockchain” assets such […]
Making Lists: A Good Way to Show You Care
Write it down. For decades, law firms like Fleming & Curti have provided estate planning clients with blank forms for making lists for gifts of personal property. Clients rarely use them, but there are significant benefits to making lists. Lists give your executor (a/k/a personal representative) or trustee a roadmap for distributing the items. In […]
Trust Restatement, or Trust Amendment?
You want to amend your revocable living trust. Your lawyer has told you that you need a trust restatement. What’s the difference, and which should you prefer? The basic rule A trust restatement is really just the ultimate amendment. Assuming that you retained the authority to amend your trust, you can amend it by completely […]
Roth IRAs and Your Estate Planning
Most people have at least a general understanding of Roth IRAs, but may not really understand how they might affect estate planning. Let’s see if we can clear up some of the questions and the most common confusion we see. First, what are Roth IRAs? William “Bill” Roth was a Republican U.S. Senator from Delaware […]
The Final Word? With Wills and Trusts, It’s Never Final
After someone dies, most believe the will or trust is the final word and must be followed. That’s never really true. Often the document can’t be changed. But, if everyone involved can agree, they usually can deviate from the document and divide assets differently. Under Arizona law, a will cannot be reformed or modified, and […]
October Round Up: Covid, Care Homes & Taxes
It’s the last Monday of the month. That means we’re a bit closer to closing out 2020 and also that it’s time for the October Round Up of developments in elder law. Covid-19 and Care Homes The pandemic has hit nursing homes particularly hard. AARP this month launched a “Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard,” which tracks […]
