We talked about the various things you should think about and get in order, so that if ‘something happens’ your loved ones don’t have to do a frantic search for your important information.
Move over, dreams of a letter arriving from a lawyer informing the recipient a long-lost relative has died and bequeathed a tidy sum.
Almost every day I hear someone mention the topic of caring for aging parents. It seems only yesterday that my friends and I were swapping colic-coping methods, survival techniques for the terrible twos and picky eater solutions.
Some people start preparing for retirement as soon as they get their first part-time jobs in high school. Others wait until they pay off their largest bills, like house loans, car loans and student loans.
Trusts fall into one of two main categories. The first category is composed of those that are established while the grantor (one who establishes the trust) is alive and are termed inter vivos (while living) trusts.
Dealing with the death of a parent is challenging but selling their home can be fraught with land mines, particularly if they die without a will.
So many questions come up at a time like this, questions that you usually don’t have answers to: Who holds the mortgage? Is there a car payment due? Is there a will? And where?
As it turns out, though, living wills and durable power of attorney for healthcare are two things that single people might especially want to give some thought to.
Planning to hand off significant assets, especially a business, to the next generation is a financial decision. However, it is one that also requires the careful handling of a family’s internal dynamics.
Like many couples, Susan and Larry, who were married for 46 years, had divided the financial chores. Larry handled the investments, and Susan paid some bills. Though Ms. Alpert owned a business arranging travel incentives for large corporations, she was not prepared to manage the household’s financial affairs.
