Our Blog

There are plenty of uncertainties when it comes to COVID-19. What happens if you get sick, lose your job, or can’t see your family and friends for an extended period of time? Why add to the list of uncertainties by not being prepared with an estate plan?

Without a Will, the state you live in will decide who gets what by default intestacy laws, leaving conflict, confusion, and hardship behind.

If you’ve been named as financial power of attorney for a loved one are you ready for the responsibilities that entails?

Coronavirus stay at home is a good time to update financial and legal matters.

In the past, giving away assets during life was used to lower estate taxes at death. However, with the Federal Estate Tax exemption over $11 million per person and many states eliminating estate tax (including New Jersey) gifting is less important.

Up to 70% of seniors (age 65+) will need some amount of long term care in their lifetimes.

When a loved one dies, someone needs to take charge settling the estate. This includes finding all of their financial information and their Will, paying their bills, dealing with Social Security and other automatic payments and filing their final income tax return.

Five Wishes is a document created by Aging With Dignity that you can purchase and use alongside your existing Advance Health Care Directive to give family members more personal guidance.

Best practices for beneficiary designations include keeping hard copies of all changes (including website or email confirmations) and checking up on your estate plan every 3-5 years including any beneficiary designation changes.

The Charles Schwab website suggests three main steps to choosing the right estate planning attorney for you. Look for a recommendation if you don't already have an estate planning attorney.

This article explains how adult children can help aging parents with their bills and brokerage statements in a way that is supportive and not condescending.

Many married couples own property “Joint with Right of Survivorship” or “Tenants by the Entirety” which works well in many cases.

Certain assets like retirement plans and life insurance policies must have beneficiary designations.

Our children become legal adults at 18 but are unlikely to marry or start their own families until ages 30+ so what happens in the interim?

Your parents are aging and there may come a time in the not too distant future where they have a health scare or incapacity of some sort (including dementia).

If you are in the prime of life, raising children and caring for aging parents, it is easy to put yourself on the back-burner.

EverSafe is a monthly service to monitor elders' financial accounts and provide adult children with alerts BEFORE it's too late.

This app tracks elders' location via their phone.

All Apple phones come with a "heart" icon with a Medical ID symbol in the bottom right corner.

One of the most meaningful messages a person can leave behind to loved ones is a personal letter.

We recommend that clients keep a one page list or spreadsheet of their assets (bank, brokerage, insurance, etc.) so that their Executors and Trustees know where to begin someday.

As we age, it becomes increasingly important to have back up plans in case we are not able to manage our own financial affairs.

As we age, handling finances alone often becomes overwhelming. For clients with Revocable Living Trusts already struggling with finances, they may want to consider naming an adult child as a co-Trustee now rather than later.

Many clients own timeshares in other states. This can create a problem at death of "ancillary probate" in the destination state.

One of the best gifts a grandparent can make to their children and grandchildren is to plan and pay for a multigenerational trip.

Many companies including Google, Apple and IBM are no long requiring college degrees.

Many grandparents want to leave something to grandchildren. One of the best lifelong gifts is to start a Roth IRA for a grandchild of working age (14 plus) who has earned income

One of the hardest things for an Executor to do is clear contents of a parent's house and sell it.

We do not recommend keeping original estate planning documents in a bank safe deposit box for many reasons.

Target is now offering same day delivery through it's website Shipt for a $49 annual subscription fee.

When your children turn 18 they become legal adults and often move away to college.

If you don't want to haul items to a donation center, consider posting your sidewalk items on Craigslist North Jersey under For Sale By Owner "Free Stuff" - this allows you to create a listing for others to come and take whatever is on the curb and give it a new life.

Many seniors accumulate paper documents they no longer need but may be private (e.g., old bank statements).