concept

Should it be maintained for close relatives? Will the next generation use it together or separately? Is it the site of family reunions? If not, will it be available to friends or even renters? Few places prove to be so powerfully uniting for a family as the family vacation home. Cabins, beach houses, you name […]

Young Woman Biting Her Finger Nail

With back-to-school season upon us, it’s an issue that’s timely to consider. Once your children turn 18, you are no longer entitled to see their medical records and make decisions about their medical treatment—unless they take a few basic estate-planning steps first. When a child turns 18, the transition to adulthood seems to be just […]

golden egg

“Fighting over personal property is the match to the tinderbox of emotions,” says McManus. “Sometimes feuds start because of lingering resentments over who worked the hardest to take care of Mom or Dad when they were sick or even over who got the biggest scoop of mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving every year.” Inheritance is a […]

Couple Holding Hands on a Railroad Track

Under federal pension law, there are many very strict legal requirements that must be met when a spouse tries to waive his or her rights to the other spouse’s retirement benefits. In this case, those rules weren’t met because the post-nuptial agreement was drafted incorrectly. So because the agreement wasn’t written properly, the soon-to-be-but-not-yet ex-wife […]

miniature woman standing in a pile of coins

According to a recent WealthCounsel survey, 35 percent of people are crafting their estate plans to avoid mismanagement by their heirs. They are setting up trusts, naming third-party trustees to manage their bequests and delaying the age that heirs receive them. There are a number of hard questions when it comes to planning for your […]