As times have changed, so has the field of estate planning. When I started out in the field 22 years ago, people and their lives seemed to be less complicated. As the years went by, it seems like the issues my clients shared with me became more complex. Perhaps as I gained experience and felt more »
In addition to seemingly endless gift lists to satisfy, the holiday season presents many with the perplexing issue regarding service tipping. Consumer Reports magazine states in the December issue that gratuities, in general, rose by approximately $5.00 over the previous holiday season. In general, Consumer Reports found that the experts they surveyed recommended a one-week more »
My wife and I are off to Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine for vacation before the summer days slip away. I’ve left instructions with my capable staff on when and how to contact me if needed, with any luck they will be able to get by just fine without me for a couple of weeks. more »
Family dynamics play an interesting role in drafting an estate plan. Every so often I meet with clients who, for whatever reason, just don’t like a son-in-law or daughter-in-law, and want to figure a way to keep their son or daughter’s inheritance in the family in the event of a divorce, death, or other unexpected more »
You may be willing to trust your teenage grandchildren to house sit for you while you’re away for the weekend, but would you trust them to properly manage your entire bank account after you die? Paris and Nicky Hilton, heiresses to the Hilton Hotel fortune, are notorious for their party-girl ways. DUI charges and driving more »
The law is full of old rituals that today we would consider ridiculous. For example, in early Bavaria, to convey real property by sale, by gift, or by will, one had to box the ears of young boys to seal the deal. The idea was that by creating a memory of pain in the child, more »
