Resources

Estate Planning can initially be an intensive process of gathering personal and financial documents, deliberating over who should play key decision-making roles as executor, trustee, agent, guardian of minors and finally making time to sign the documents.   Whew! Finished at last, and … [Read more...] about Why Update Your Estate Plan?

An inherited IRA has been generally regarded as a great way to fund retirement for a child or a grandchild.  Perhaps the original owner did not need to spend down the account, or died before exhausting it.  That premise has come under attack.  The Administration’s 2013 and 2014 budgets have proposed … [Read more...] about Bankruptcy and Inherited IRAs

A Revocable Trust, also called a Living Trust, is a legal document that an individual or married couple creates to hold and own individually owned assets.  The maker of the trust is called a Grantor.  The manager of the trust is called the Trustee who invests and spends for the benefit of the … [Read more...] about Will or Trust? How to Decide Which is Better for Your Situation?

The Saturday New York Times usually has a "Personal Business" column with thought-provoking articles that touch on estate planning. Recently the feature was on older couples who choose to live together but not marry.   While the number of unmarried couples over 50 has more than doubled since 2000, … [Read more...] about Love and/or Marriage Later in Life

Dominion Law Group --  Leesburg Estate PlannersClients have been reporting receiving soliciations from "Record Transfer Services" shortly after the deed was recorded to transfer their property into the name of their newly established revocable trusts.  The notice offers to provide a copy of the … [Read more...] about RECORD TRANSFER SERVICES — BEWARE

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a terminal illness or with dementia, it is important to tackle three aspects of life planning: medical decision making, financial planning and decision making and distribution of one’s worldly goods. If there is an estate plan in place, it should be … [Read more...] about Estate Planning In Light of a Serious Medical Diagnosis

Before the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA) was signed into law, most estate planning for married couples involved use of “Credit Shelter Trust” language in either wills or revocable trusts. This was intended to take maximum advantage of the federal estate tax exemption on the death of … [Read more...] about Portability v Credit Shelter Trust

Michelle Singletary, the popular finance columnist for the Washington Post,  recently highlighted the need for medical directives and powers of attorney, based on a situation in her own family.  Her mother was critically injured in a house fire, and family members are working to care for her, … [Read more...] about Essential Estate Planning Documents

Quite often a prenuptial agreement is recommended when a couple is planning to get married, and if it is a second marriage for one or both. The agreement defines the interest each has, or does not have, in the property of the other. Prenuptial agreements are also recommended when one of the spouses … [Read more...] about Prenuptial Agreements and Portability

Another celebrity has died unexpectedly, leaving an incomplete estate plan that will result in a huge amount of estate tax, and poorly defined beneficiaries.  This time it was Phillip Seymour Hoffman, the acclaimed actor who died in early February.  Others have included Heath Ledger in 2008 (left … [Read more...] about Estate Plans of the Rich and Famous