When you are a child, your parents serve as your decision makers. They have ultimate say in where you go to school, what extracurricular activities you partake in and where, and how, you should be treated in the event of a medical emergency. While most parents continue to play a huge role in their children’s…

Remarried? Protect Your Children With Proper Planning If you are married for the first time and are working on your estate plan, the decisions about where the assets go are usually easy. Most parents in that situation want their entire estate to go to the surviving spouse, and upon the death of the surviving spouse,…

  Last week I covered the definition of “probate.”  Probate is simply the process in which the court oversees the distribution of your assets as directed by your will (if you have one) and handles claims against assets.  This week I will explain how legal wills are “tested” by probate court and how to prevent having…

In this second part of my two-part blog series, I’d like to talk about the documents I feel are the most necessary to provide your family with the protection it deserves in the event of your death. Pulling Together the Necessary Documents I believe that it goes without saying that everyone should have a will….

I’m asked quite often how I feel about the state-by-state recognition of same-sex marriage. On one hand, I’m delighted to see it happening at all, but the attorney in me can’t help but see all of the headaches come tax season.  There is no Federal recognition for same sex marriage.  That means doing tax returns…

I was doing a little home office cleaning the other day when I happened to notice my “In Case of Emergency Break Glass” file.  This is a group of documents that I’ve collected, grouped, and stored away that will provide our unique family with legal legs should the worst (or inevitable) happens. It is important…

My website and posts are geared to the so-called “nontraditional family” and nontraditional estate planning.  But just what does that mean? I use the term – for lack of anything better – to define any family that does not fall into the 1950s model of a family with one husband and one wife who are…

My prior post explained what a Power of Attorney is and how it works.  But you need to know more about this powerful tool.  For instance, how do you create one?  And what powers does it grant to your agent?  Whom should you choose as your agent? How do you create a power of attorney?…

A will is a critical part of your estate plan, but it is only useful after your death.  To protect yourself in the event that you are unable to speak for yourself, you must do more. If you are incapacitated there are two main areas in which you need someone else to have the right…