Hopefully, you recognize the need to have a well thought out estate plan in place to ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes when you are gone. Your estate plan, however, should accomplish much more than simply creating a roadmap for the disposition of your estate assets upon your death. For example, have you considered the very real possibility that you, or a spouse, will need long-term care (LTC) at some point during your retirement years? If you do need nursing home … [Read more...]
Do I Need an Asset Protection Attorney?
You’ve worked hard all your life to build up your assets. You’ve finally managed to acquire a decent asset portfolio. Now you need to protect those assets. One of the biggest estate planning mistakes people make is failing to recognize the need to consult with an asset protection attorney. They typically make this mistake because they do not realize how at risk their assets really are. After you take the time to consider the following ways in which your assets might be at risk, you will … [Read more...]
Coordinating Your IRA with Your Estate Plan
For many Americans, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and other retirement plans and pensions often represent their most valuable assets. Along with the home, these retirement vehicles are the most likely assets to avoid consumption or loss of value over the course of the owner’s life. Unfortunately, many Americans often neglect to calculate their retirement account’s impact on their overall estate planning efforts – and that can lead to unexpected negative outcomes when they die. Unless you … [Read more...]
Learn How Your Medicaid Attorney Can Help with Long-Term Care Costs
If you live in New Jersey and even think that you might one day find yourself in need of long-term care, then you owe it to yourself and your family to start planning for that eventuality now. Naturally, none of us want to really contemplate that sort of future for ourselves, since we’d all like to think that we’ll be healthy, vibrant, and self-sufficient until the day we die. Realistically, though, that’s simply not the case. A large percentage of us will one day end up in a nursing home or … [Read more...]
How Do You Transfer Assets Into a Living Trust?
Before you decide that you should use a last will as your estate planning vehicle of asset transfer, you should carefully evaluate the benefits that you would gain if you utilize a living trust instead.The first thing to understand about a living trust is the fact that it is revocable. You do not have to worry about losing access to the resources if you need to take them back, because you can revoke the trust entirely at any time. Plus, you can act as the trustee and the beneficiary. As a … [Read more...]
Does Medicaid Count Assets in a Living Trust?
The Medicaid program is a health insurance program that is run by the government. It is administered by the federal government in conjunction with each state government. You may be aware of the fact that Medicaid is only available to financially needy individuals.If you have worked throughout your life, you may well have health insurance through your job. Short of this, you have probably acquired health insurance on your own through a direct relationship with an insurer. When you are on … [Read more...]
Three Compelling Reasons to Create an Estate Plan
People who are going through life without an estate plan are failing to fulfill a basic responsibility. If you aren't sure why you should put an estate plan in place, consider these three compelling facts.Your Family Would Suffer the ConsequencesMany people who fail to put an estate plan in place feel as though it is not necessary, because they are relatively young. In fact, you can look at it another way.Senior citizens are going to have adult children who are self-supporting in … [Read more...]
What Does the Executor of a Will Do?
If you use a last will to record your final wishes regarding the inheritances that your loved ones will be receiving, you nominate someone to handle the estate administration tasks after you die. This person is called the executor of a will.The estate executor has a number of different real world responsibilities. It is not just a ceremonial honor that you bestow upon someone that you love and respect.You may imagine the executor reading a will after the funeral, and the idea would be … [Read more...]
What Is the Value of an Irrevocable Trust?
There are numerous different types of trusts used in the field of estate planning. One basic distinction between them is the matter of revocation. You can revoke or dissolve some types of trusts, and you cannot revoke others.As the name would indicate, an irrevocable trust is a trust that cannot be dissolved. Once you convey assets into this type of trust, the decision is final. You cannot change your mind and take back the assets in the trust. Plus, you cannot change the terms of the trust … [Read more...]
How to Qualify for Medicaid in New Jersey
The Medicaid program is a health insurance program. It is jointly administered by the federal government along with the New Jersey state government. It is a program that is in place to provide health insurance for people who have very limited financial resources.You may wonder why you would ever want to be able to qualify for Medicaid in New Jersey if you have resources and you are going to qualify for Medicare when you reach the age of 65. The reason why Medicaid is relevant is because it … [Read more...]
