In fact, creating a living will is a smart idea, one that can save no small amount of expense, suffering and confusion on the part of your family and your medical care providers, and we aren’t the only ones who think so. Robert Powell of The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch agrees with us, and has written an excellent article answering the frequently asked questions about living wills, explaining the differences between a living will and a health care directive, and outlining why each and every adult should have one of these documents.
If you still aren’t convinced you should have a document specifying your wishes for end-of-life treatment, call our office and we’ll be happy to answer any further questions you have. For those of you who need no convincing, we can help you execute the documents you need to get the care you want when you aren’t able to care for yourself. A living will or health care directive is a standard document in any estate plan, so if you’ve been considering creating an estate plan this may be a good time to take the plunge. Apparently executing a living will or health care directive is no longer beneficial only to you and your family; it’s also good for your country.
]]>Our firm can give you the very best estate planning and asset protection, but the other steps may require the help of a financial advisor. Each client’s situation is different, of course; you may already have a financial advisor and have taken these other steps (many of our clients are at our office on the advice of their financial advisor, in fact), but if you haven’t, finding an advisor you are comfortable with can be a challenge.
Because estate planning and financial planning go hand in hand, our firm has relationships with a number of top notch financial advisors, and we are happy to make the introductions. Having an estate planner and financial planner who are already acquainted can have many benefits. In addition to getting a referral from a source you already know and trust, you can be sure that any financial advisor we recommend has already been vetted, and all communication and collaboration between us for your benefit will be smooth and effortless. Don’t hesitate to call and take advantage of our experience.
If you still choose to search on your own, this article in The Wall Street Journal has suggestions on how to interview and choose the best financial advisor for your family. Either way, be aware of all the steps needed to reach your ultimate goal of financial security.
]]>“…Infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon, and second childhood, ‘sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything’”.
Anyone who has had to watch as their parents age knows how true this passage can be. And just as difficult as watching your parents age can be talking to them about it. No parent wants to show weakness in front of their child, or admit that they need help; and often their reluctance to talk is fueled by the fear that they’ll be “put away”, or have their freedom and independence taken from them. Adult children are reluctant to bring up the subject as well—they’re afraid of angering their parent, or sometimes their afraid of having their worst fears confirmed.
But ignoring the subject won’t make it go away, and waiting too long can be disastrous. The best way to talk to your parents about aging is to bring it up early, before fear and obstinance have set in. Having these discussions ahead of time prepares both parent and child for what may lie ahead, insures everybody is on the same page and that there are no surprises in store.
However, even with advance discussions and planning, it is likely that a few uncomfortable subjects will still come up. This article from Reader’s Digest has some advice on how to broach these difficult subjects (including the subject of estate planning), and even provides a few scripts to help get the conversation started. If you’re still uncomfortable, having a third party mediator can be helpful; a trusted doctor—or even your estate planning or elder law attorney—can be a calm voice of reason in deep emotional waters.
]]>Of course we’ve all heard about Medicaid, and most people know the very basics of what Medicaid is and what it does; but when questioned further, how many people actually know the difference between fact and fallacy? Do you know which services Medicaid will pay for? Or if Medicaid covers parents and their children? These questions and more are answered in this article from Kaiser Health News—Medicaid: True Or False? The article gives the opportunity to test your assumptions about Medicaid and improve your factual knowledge at the same time.
As the Baby-Boomer population ages, nursing home and elderly care is becoming the fastest-growing aspect of Medicaid. This means that we’re all likely to have to have dealings with Medicaid—either for ourselves or for someone we love—at some point in the future. Shouldn’t you know as much as you can about the program before that time comes?
]]>According to this article in the New York Times, depression and burnout does not have to be the plight of all caregivers, especially if you know the symptoms and how to combat them. And the good news is that just about all the preventative strategies listed in the article are easy and readily available… the hard part for caregivers is valuing their own time and mental health enough to take advantage of them.
There is a saying that hardships shared are halved, and joys shared are doubled; this is as true of care giving as it is for anything else. Many caregivers are reluctant to ask for help, but sharing the burden could save you from caregiver burnout. Don’t be afraid to reach out.
More information about caregiver support and resources can be found at the following websites:
http://www.caregivershome.com/
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This is why our firm would like to offer this article by the reliably agenda-free Associated Press: Will or Trust? Understanding the differences. The article is an excellent overview of the differences between a will and a trust, and why one or the other might be a better choice for your family. It also answers some frequently asked questions about wills, trusts, and estate planning in general.
Of course, each family and situation will be different, and laws vary from state to state, so although we hope you find this article helpful, we still urge you to speak to an estate planning attorney face-to-face before making your final decision.
]]>At first glance, this may seem like a great idea; what could be better than having your healthcare records and your end-of-life wishes stored in one easily accessible place? And Google does their best to make it easy for you to create an advanced directive with them as well. The problem is, not all advanced directives are created equal.
As important as it is to have an advanced healthcare directive, and to specify your wishes for your healthcare agent and your end-of-life care, it is just as important to do it the right way. First of all, each state has its own rules and regulations regarding the legality of your healthcare directive. Secondly, those laws have a tendency to change periodically, and if you aren’t going to be able to keep abreast of these changes you need to have an attorney who will. And last but not least, hospitals take their responsibility regarding patient privacy, the wishes of the patient, and the wishes of the family very seriously. Hospitals will not talk to your agent or release information about your healthcare status unless you have a directive that complies with all the laws of your state AND you have a signed and updated HIPAA Authorization.
Before jumping on the “great deal” Google offers, talk to your attorney about your own healthcare directive and HIPAA Authorization. If you are determined to take advantage of the opportunity to put all of your healthcare documents online, rather than using Google’s “easy” forms, it might be a better idea to upload your own professionally created documents.
]]>Author Linda Stern recommends mid-year as the best time to start thinking about your taxes because it gives you plenty of time to take advantage of various planning strategies and tax breaks, many of which she outlines in her article. Stern also points out that scheduling an appointment with your accountant in July—when accountants are not nearly as busy as March or April—means you’ll have more one-on-one time to strategize and discuss your financial situation.
Stern’s article is full of good advice and suggestions for saving on your taxes this year, but she forgets one important strategy: Creating your estate plan. Talking to a lawyer about your estate plan not only helps in understanding and organizing your finances, and protecting your assets for the future; but the money you spend in creating an estate plan can be tax deductable. Talk to your lawyer and accountant now about how you can protect—and save—your money in the future.
]]>Of course every parent wants to do what’s best for their child, but Ruth Mantell of the Wall Street Journal writes in her article that in this case, being tough may be what’s best. This isn’t to say that you should refuse if your out-of-work child comes to your door asking for help, but that parents or grandparents need to do what’s necessary to protect themselves before they welcome their adult children back home. “With job losses continuing to mount, older Americans’ wallets are being stretched by their own children,” Mantell writes, but having your adult children back in your home can actually be a good experience for all—if you know what to expect and take the right steps first.
In her article Mantell offers five useful tips to help keep the peace and keep your finances secure, including suggestions such as making sure everyone knows who is boss (you as the homeowner), asking for household contributions (even if all your children can afford is a token financial contribution or a contribution of manual labor), and especially preserving your retirement plans at all costs.
Although the practice has fallen out of style, multi-generational households used to be the norm. It may not be the ideal situation today, but with the right communication, and with everybody on the same page, temporarily sharing the house with your adult children can be an acceptable—and maybe even rewarding—experience.
]]>And then there’s the statement that makes any estate planning attorney shudder in protest:
I guess trusts and estate plans are just for the rich.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Trusts and estate plans are for everybody. First of all, an estate plan describes the documents that dispose of your assets after you are gone. This may include nothing but a will and a healthcare directive, or it may include those documents plus a living trust, powers of attorney, property memorandum, and many more. The size and intricacy of your estate plan can be as small or as large as you wish, it all depends on you and your attorney.
Secondly, revocable living trusts are useful to everybody from the asset-poor young parents just starting out to the wealthy grandmother with enough property to give a house to every grandchild. This is because revocable living trusts are private and versatile documents that can be created to accommodate your unique situation, whatever it may be.
Those asset-poor young parents like the privacy of a trust–the fact that they can nominate guardians and financial conservators for their children without everybody knowing who it is. They can also use a trust to set money aside for their children’s college fund, if that is important to them; or keep the family money in a singe trust for the benefit of all their children until each one has reached a certain age, when the inheritance can be divided up equally. And they can do this even if their only asset is the small house they just bought.
The wealthy grandmother likes a trust because she can leave an inheritance to her daughter, but keep it out of the hands of her daughter’s untrustworthy husband; or she can set aside a sum of money for each grandchild, to be used specifically for education, not fast cars. And the trust can encompass as many bank accounts, investments, or pieces of real estate as she likes.
Trusts and estate plans are essential and useful tools not just for the rich and famous, but for everybody. Call our office to find out what kind of estate plan can benefit your family.
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