How frequently you should review your estate plan depends on how old you are and whether there has been a significant change in your circumstances. If you are over age 60 and you haven't updated your estate plan in many decades, it's almost certain that you need to update your documents. After that, you should
Paying for day care is one of the biggest expenses faced by working adults with young children, a dependent parent, or a child with a disability, but there is a tax credit available to help working caregivers defray the costs of day care (called "adult day care" in the case of the elderly). In order to qualify
The main purpose of a will is to direct where your assets will go after you die, but it can also be used to instruct your heirs how to pay your debts. While generally heirs cannot inherit debt, debt can reduce what they receive. Spelling out how debt should be paid can help your heirs.
Being the executor of an estate is not a task to take lightly. An executor is the person responsible for managing the administration of a deceased individual's estate. Although the time and effort involved will vary with the size of the estate, even if you are the executor of a small estate you will have
Whether your spouse has just passed away or you have lost your mom or dad, the emotional trauma of losing a loved one often comes with a bewildering array of financial and legal issues demanding attention. It can be difficult enough for family members to handle the emotional trauma of a death, let alone taking the steps
Q: I have two annuities. If my wife or I need to go into a nursing home, would we have to cash in the annuities to apply toward nursing home expenses? I have been told that, because the annuities are considered insurance policies, we would not need to cash them in for nursing home expenses.
Many people periodically update their wills or other estate plans, but don't update who will receive distributions from their retirement plans (such as IRAs and 401(k)s) upon their deaths. Every year you should review your entire estate plan, and the review should include retirement plan "beneficiary designations" to make sure they aren't outdated. The following
You may feel that you have given one child more during your life, so he or she should get less in your will. Or you may want to cut out an heir altogether. Whatever the reason, disinheriting a close relative--especially a spouse or a child--can be complicated. It may not be possible to completely disinherit
Spouses who are turning full retirement age this year are the last group who can choose whether to take spousal benefits or to take benefits on their own record. The strategy, used by some couples to maximize their benefits, will not be available to people turning full retirement age after 2019.
By Patricia Kalla Zonnenberg The New York Times Magazine's weekly The Ethicist column recently explored a difficult question that may challenge many parents of adult children with special needs. The Ethicist helps people sort out the morality of the choices they have. In "May I Cut My Daughter Out of My Life?", an anonymous parent writes that his or
