The Plain English Attorney Blog
Far too many attorneys overcomplicate things, making topics convoluted and difficult to understand to the average person. This blog is committed to explaining legal planning topics in an easy to understand format, in plain English. Enjoy the blogs, and please let us know if there is a topic you would like covered.
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Not every inheritance is welcome or wanted, strange as it seems. There are tax issues, potential lawsuits looming, or even just a desire to see the inheritance go somewhere else. However, there are different ways people believe they can waive off an inheritance, and not all of them are...
The internet can be a tremendous help with research. However, there are a lot of myths, misconceptions, and outright falsehoods out there, especially when it comes to estate planning. We don’t have time to list them all, but here are the top five we have curated to help you get started.
1....
You’re an adult, you have a lot going on, and you’re not going to die tomorrow. As far as you know. Putting together estate planning documents may be the last thing on your mind, but it shouldn’t be if you care even a little bit about where your assets go when you pass on....
Funding a Revocable Living Trust is critical to ensuring your estate avoids probate. Unfortunately in my line of work, I see too many trusts where nothing, or almost nothing, is actually funded in the trust. That is why I make sure at least every six months or so to post this chapter from my book...
Medicaid is one of the most effective, and most needed, programs when it comes to caring for seniors and our most vulnerable citizens. However, the rules are designed to be extremely complex so that families will tend to throw their hands up in frustration, spend everything they have, and then...
One of the biggest frustrations I see in my line of work is when people who are already going through a crisis because of the death or a long-term illness of a family member end up in probate. This time-consuming, frustrating, and paperwork intensive process only compounds the grief and agony...
I’m an estate and Medicaid planning attorney, so why talk about prenups? It’s because it has all of the same hallmarks about planning ahead for the worst while hoping for the best that I do in my law practice, and because I have seen what divorce has done to the adult children of some...
When it comes to estate planning, what you do with your estate is wide open. However, there are only two heavyweights when it comes to how you pass along your estate. You are either using a Last Will and Testament, or a revocable living trust as the base of your plan. But which one is best?...
I don't usually use a blog just to highlight another person's video, but in this case the information is too important not to. For my clients, their children, and even grandchildren, there are some big potential changes resulting from a legal settlement that can impact the way buying a house...
When it comes to planning for estate planning for a beneficiary with special needs, there are a lot of myths, half-truths, and misinformation out there. And unfortunately, some of these things just get out there because it worked in one particular circumstance and suddenly everybody's thinking...
When it comes to long term care planning with Medicaid, the federal government makes the rules confusing, convoluted, and so complex that families tend to throw up their hands in frustration and just spend everything until broke. That’s the way the government wants it. But if you know the...
3 Keys to Estate Planning for HD
Huntington’s Disease is a horrible affliction to individuals that also causes upheaval and turmoil within the family. But planning ahead can empower individuals, protect the family, and even provide calm within the family when crisis hits because wishes have...
