Elder Law Issues
Latest Episodes
Family Wealth Discussion — Is It a Good Idea?
Clients often wonder: should they tell their family about their assets and estate plan? A family wealth discussion can be a tense experience or a joyous occasion. Of course, they can also be everything in between. - To be clear,
Cybersecurity – A Cautionary Tale
Cybersecurity is an important concern for businesses -- and for individuals. In this week's podcast episode, we talk about a recent brush with a hacking exploit in our office. Our office -- and our client information -- remained safe.
Elderly Drivers Can Pose a Challenge for Concerned Family
We all know the cliches about elderly drivers. As we age many of us experience diminished function. It may be vision, hearing, response time or even cognitive ability. The aging driver can be a concern for family members and the community. -
Mental Health Powers — in Powers of Attorney or Guardianship
Sometimes the authority to make health care decisions for another person does not work out. It can especially founder on a common limitation: it might not include mental health powers. Without authority over mental health decisions, the agent,
Pets and the Elderly
We have written and talked before about pets and the elderly client in our office. But most of that discussion has focused on how to make plans for your pets after your inevitable demise. What about taking care of pets -- and having them help take care...
Planning for 2021
It will come as no surprise that there is an election in November, 2020. Depending on the outcome, there might be significant changes in estate, gift and generation-skipping taxes as soon as next year. Are there things that you need to consider in your...
Trust Funding 201
Time for your next podcast class: Trust Funding 201. - You signed your living trust (and related documents). Good. You're halfway done. The rest of the job: transferring assets to the trust. - In last week's podcast we focused on some of the basic fu...
Trust Funding 101
It can be challenging to figure out how to title assets after you have created a revocable living trust. We're calling this initial review Trust Funding 101. We discuss some of the common titling issues. -
Arizona community property
The "community property" rules sometimes confuse or alarm lawyers from states that apply the "common-law" property rules. Arizona community property is not really that complicated, but it can be foreign to estate planning practitioners from other state...
Estate Planning With Blended Families
We often consult with blended families about their estate planning. Those families -- sometimes with "yours, mine and our" kids, or disparate young-adult backgrounds -- can pose special concerns for us to work through. - How common are concerns?