By Stanley M. Vasiliadis, Esq., CELA While a durable general power of attorney that appoints someone to act for you if you become incapacitated is a great tool, in some circumstances it is not enough. In these cases, a revocable trust can help. A durable general power of attorney allows you to appoint someone you
As a trust beneficiary, you may feel that you are at the mercy of the trustee, but depending on the type of trust, beneficiaries may have rights to ensure the trust is properly managed. A trust is a legal arrangement through which one person, called a "settlor" or "grantor," gives assets to another person (or an
The amount you can gift to any one person without filing a gift tax form is increasing to $16,000 in 2022, the first increase since 2018. The federal estate tax exclusion is also climbing to more than $12 million per individual. The IRS’s announcement that the annual gift exclusion will rise for calendar year 2022 means
Running a small business can keep you busy, but it should not keep you from creating an estate plan. Not having a plan in place can cause problems for your business and your family after you are gone. While an estate plan is important for everyone, it is especially important for small business owners. Planning
Elder law and estate planning serve two different -- but equally vital -- functions. The main difference is that elder law is focused on preserving your assets during your lifetime, while estate planning concentrates on what happens to your assets after you die. Elder law planning is concerned with ensuring that seniors live long, healthy,
A Roth IRA does not have to be used as just a retirement plan; it can also be a way to transfer assets tax-free to the next generation. Unlike a traditional IRA, contributions to a Roth IRA are taxed, which means that the distributions are tax-free. Also, unlike a traditional IRA, you are also not
If your spouse is in a nursing home or at heightened risk for needing such care in the future, special planning measures should be taken. Those measures include dealing with what happens if you, the healthy, so called “community spouse” pass away first. In that case, the spouse in the nursing home may become ineligible
Preparing a Medicaid application to qualify a loved-one for benefits to pay for nursing home care is a difficult and often long, drawn-out process. Detailed information regarding assets, income and expenses must be gathered and documented, including transfers for less than fair market value made by applicant or spouse within the 60-month “look-back” period immediately
When you gift your grandchildren assets it can do more than help your descendants get a good start in life -- it can also reduce the size of your estate and the tax that will be due upon your death. Perhaps the simplest approach to gifting is to give the grandchild an outright gift.
Being able to make health care decisions for ourselves is so important to us, but what happens if you become incapacitated and are unable to voice your opinion? If you don’t have a health care power of attorney or guardian in place, state law chooses who can make those decisions. In an emergency, medical providers
