I recently installed about 30 square feet of tile. I didn’t do it myself because I wanted it done efficiently, inexpensively, or professionally. I was extremely slow. I could have used the time invested to do thousands of dollars’ worth of legal work. And some of the corners are crooked. But I wanted to do…
The Importance of Ownership
Proper ownership of your assets is a critical step to ensure that your estate plan works properly. This is especially important when your estate plan creates trusts upon your death. There are several ways to transfer assets upon your death. I will cover a few. Transferring Assets Through Probate. Probate is the legal process used…
Moving Past Normal
I was sitting in my truck listening to someone on NPR talking about the World Trade Center attacks when the third plane hit the Pentagon. Then the fourth plane crashed. I remember wondering what would happen next. That feeling dissipated over a few days. The world has changed a great deal since 2001. But those…
Why Your Estate Plan Should Include a HIPAA Authorization
I am continuing my explanation of incapacity documents. In this post I will discuss the HIPAA Authorization, and why we prepare one for every estate plan. Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly known as HIPAA, in 1996. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services then created the HIPAA Privacy Rule…
Understanding Your Health Care Power of Attorney
When I was in elementary school, I thought that the world could one day be changed by nuclear war. Then the Soviet Union fell apart. Later, I though Y2K might disrupt something. I’m not sure what. Maybe my dial up internet. For the next few years, the world seemed susceptible to terrorism. But most of…
How the Secure Act Will Affect Your Estate Plan
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act became effective January 1, 2020. The effect of the changes on your estate plan depends on the type of assets you own. If most of your wealth is in tax-deferred retirement accounts, the changes could mean that your estate plan won’t work as expected. Background…
A Life of Thanksgiving
For the long Thanksgiving weekend, I went a day and a half without working on any client matters. I haven’t done that in a while. I rarely picked up my phone. And I spent a lot of time with my family in my two favorite places – on the beach and deep in a swamp….
Figuring Out if You Care
The legal profession necessarily values logic, objectivity, and predictability above all other factors. There can be no justice if people subject to a legal system can’t predict outcomes by applying the law to the facts. Good lawyers help their clients work through complex issues in a systematic, rational, and logical manner. In that context, it…
Real Estate & LLCs
Limited Liability Companies (“LLCs”) are powerful and flexible tools in business and estate planning. They are especially well-suited for holding real estate. Many of our clients’ businesses are separate from, but dependent on a real estate base. There are often good reasons to use a separate entity to operate a business. We typically use LLCs…