Category: Estate Planning

Pregnant and Brain Dead: How to Make Your Living Will Effective

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Pregnant and Brain Dead: How to Make Your Living Will Effective     The heart wrenching story of Adriana Smith exhibits both the legal limitations placed on Living Wills, and the impossibility of planning for every potential end of life decision we may have to face. Adriana, aged 30, went from having headaches one day to experiencing deadly blood clots in her brain the next morning, leaving her brain dead. To add to this tragedy, Adriana was well into her first trimester of pregnancy and under Georgia state law could no longer have her life support terminated due to the state’s abortion laws (and no, this article is not going to discuss abortion law, no no no). And while Adriana’s

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When Bill Met Jordan: Does Dad Really Need Protection From Himself?

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When Bill Met Jordan: Does Dad Really Need Protection From Himself?   It sounds like the most exhausting romcom script a Hollywood agent has to read since the script where Adam Sandler tried to date Jennifer Aniston for a seventh movie: Aging, successful NFL coach is on a flight, sits next to college cheerleader, orders her a Cherry Mojito, and every category of “journalist” gets a seat at the dinner table. Cheerleader (starring Jordan Hudson) starts dressing scantily and acting like a boss, Coach (played by Bill I’m-Still-Pinching-Myself Belichick) is allowed to visit her dorm room and stream Netflix and stuff. Tabloids and families shriek “Dad is falling under the spell of Young Girl,” Young Girl exerts more influence, buys

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PROTECT YOUR MONEY BY FREEZING YOUR CREDIT NOW

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PROTECT YOUR MONEY BY FREEZING YOUR CREDIT NOW   Your personal financial information is worth stealing. And it is also worth defending. The unfortunate truth is you cannot stop your identity from being stolen, but you can still protect your credit and money when your identity is stolen.   We all go out of our way to defend our Social Security Number and credit card information, we do not answer phone calls from Wichita or Biloxi or Chevy Chase (the place and the person), and we uncontrollably yell at ourselves with crazy eyes in the mirror every time we open an email attachment from a suspicious address. Sadly, while we are doing everything we can to protect our financial information,

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What Should I Keep (and Not Keep) in My Home Safe?

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What Should I Keep (and Not Keep) in My Home Safe?   A home safe is like a kitchen knife: Nicey and slicey when used precisely, but dicey and pricy if you are too feisty. While bank safe deposit boxes require you to visit your bank during operating hours (and Court oversight to open after you have died), a safe at home allows you access to your belongings and information at all hours with no bank manager looking over your shoulder, and no monthly fee. On the flip side, burglary or a party absconding with your safe’s contents may be a concern. So here is a list of suggestions you should consider before you fill your safe. What to Keep

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Don’t Let Aunt Mildred’s Photo ID Expire

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You will need valid photo identification for the remainder of your life. From signing legal documents to opening new bank accounts, government offices and financial organizations require valid picture identification to legally transact business. So it is concerning to learn that most elderly individuals do not have any valid photo ID, and downright frustrating to realize this lack of legal photo identification can cost families tens of thousands of dollars during the last years of their loved ones’ lives.   As we age, our photo identification expires and is not renewed for mostly predictable reasons: People no longer plan on traveling so they do not renew their passport, they move in with a family member or to an assisted living

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Living Wills in New York May be Useless

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There are few rational reasons to having a Living Will in New York, almost no legal benefits to having one, and Living Wills may cause more confusion than guidance in your final days of life. There are several misperceptions concerning what a Living Will actually is. For starters, the very name “Living Will” is a misnomer: It is neither a living document (because it discusses your desire to have someone “pull the plug” on life sustaining measures), nor is it a will (a document which distributes property upon your death). Some people refer to this document as an “Advanced Directive”, but I am pretty sure the Advanced Directive is a Star Trek term regarding Captain Kirk’s alien kissing fetish or

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Hey, Mom & Dad: No One Wants Your Stuff

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No one wants your stuff after you die. Your restored love seat from 1894, your 3rd generation silverware and fine china dining set, your mud-stained Jimi Hendrix t-shirt from the Monterey Pop Festival, these cherished items that gave you cherished memories and a sense of purpose on this planet are little more than garbage and a hinderance in the eye of other people. So why is it some people go to such great lengths to leave certain items of personal property to specific individuals? Case in point: I met with a couple who squabbled amongst one-another how to split up the family artwork. These people were not art collectors, they were average Joes and Janes who on a whim bought stuff

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You Don’t Really Want an Asset Protection Trust

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I get a lot of calls from people asking if I can set up an Asset Protection Trust for them. These people usually owe taxes or child support, are contemplating divorce, have recently been the responsible party in an accident or injury to someone else, or anticipate their risky business practices will lead to lawsuits in the future. Despite what they may think, most people in these situations do not want their property owned by an Asset Protection Trust. Asset Protection Trusts are permitted and created in a handful of states (currently 16) such as Delaware, Nevada, Ohio, Alaska and Rhode Island. Trusts created in other states do not have the same level of protection. The idea is that you

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