Blog
What has been missing for so long is a means of transferring real estate in a simple, probate-free process. In about half the states, that hole has been plugged. Probate can be messy, time-consuming and costly. Consequently, many people want to avoid it for their own estates. Unfortunately, probate is unavoidable if you own real […]
For the first time since the Apollo missions, there is serious talk of more manned spaceflight missions, and it is raising an important question: When someone dies in space, what do you do with the body? As in life on Earth, the unknown can happen in space at any time. Right now if an astronaut […]
Nursing home expenses continue to rise with the nationwide average increasing to $91,250 per year for private and just over $80,000 for semi private rooms. How much should you be saving for future nursing home care? Unfortunately, the cost is going up and people are grappling with how to pay for it. As reported recently […]
For the first time in a decade, Congress has decided to seriously examine the burden the death tax — also known as the estate tax — places on grieving families and their small businesses and employees. Present law states that if a business owner passes away his or her heirs possibly only have to pay […]
The dictionary defines beneficiary as “the recipient of funds” — from a will, trust, retirement plan or life insurance. But that doesn’t begin to cover the details and the differences. Here are five things you need to know. The term “beneficiary” involves receiving assets from a wide variety of legal instruments, and many people get […]
If you can’t find the life insurance policy of a deceased relative, here’s your biggest problem: There’s no central, national database of life insurance policies. So if you’re hunting for a policy — and have had no luck finding the policy itself in any drawer or pile of papers — here are ways to find […]
Whether a family business is big or small, succession planning is important to avoid family feuding or damage to the business. Here are some tips for avoiding mistakes in succession planning. Will your business live on after you pass away? Many family businesses begin life as the dream of a driven founder who guides the […]
19-year-old daughter Becky loved sharing her life on Facebook. When she fell terminally ill with a brain tumor, and lost speech and movement, her mother Louise would log in with Becky to help her stay in touch with her friends. Becky died in 2010 but Louise continued to access her account to feel close to […]
A bill in the General Assembly would treat individuals’ Facebook, Twitter, email and other online accounts the same as physical assets after death. By default, the law does not treat digital assets the same way that it treats physical assets. After a person passes away, physical assets become part of the estate. Executors and loved […]
“This family tried so hard to make sure they did with the tractors what their loved one most likely would have wanted — selling some and keeping the rest for the next generation. After Dave’s death, they found a list he had left, letting them know which tractors meant the most to him. That gave […]
