Probate Attorney Blog

What Are You Willing To Invest? This is a little bit of a ranty kind of an episode. I see so many people making bad decisions when it comes to their family and protecting their legacy because they fail to have the proper perspective when it comes to the money that is used for estate planning, for financial planning, for life insurance, for disability insurance, and for many other things that are critical to the long-term success of your family….

Cost of NOT Choosing a Guardian for Your Kids When you have kids something changes in your mind. Priorities change. Thoughts change. Actions and reactions change. The fulcrum of this change is your new child. Something biologically drives us to want to do whatever we can to keep them safe and give them the best chance to succeed in life. It is this amazing transition that also creates chaos in the context of estate planning. People come into my office…

Should I Use My Full Federal Estate Tax Exemption Now? At the end of 2017 some pretty significant tax legislation was passed. It changed around the income tax brackets, changed the way businesses were taxed, and significantly increased the federal estate tax exemption. And when I say significantly I mean SIGNIFICANTLY. If you died in 2017 you had an exemption of $5.43MM. If you die in 2018 and beyond you have an exemption of $11.1MM Sounds pretty good, right? For…

How Much Power Does the Personal Representative Have When Distributing Assets? This definitely falls under the “estate planning attorney frequently asked questions category” so I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about at and put your fears to rest. One of the common questions I am asked surrounds the Personal Representative’s (also called Executor in some places) power to distribute assets when they take on the role. Many people are worried the personal representative is simply going to…

25% of 2018 Is Already Over… Can you believe we are already one-quarter of the way through 2018? Believe it. Time flies when you’re having fun, when you’re having a bad time, and whether you want it to or not. This week’s episode is all about reminding you that it’s up to YOU to take control over your life and the things you want to get done, before it’s too late. And this doesn’t just relate to estate planning (though…

How My Hole In One Is Like Estate Planning Last week I achieved something that not many people do: I had a hole in one on the golf course. It was pretty cool and pretty fun, and a long time coming. But thinking about this hole in one and how it relates to estate planning the connections became immediately clear. The primary connection between the two is the randomness of the event. I had no idea I was going to…

Hello! I hope you’re having a great week. I am. I just got back from a little vacation where I had my first ever hole in one! It was a pretty cool experience. My first one ever. But that wasn’t the cool part of the trip. The cool part was getting to see and experience and talk to people of all different walks of life from around the world. And it got me thinking a little… I don’t know if…