I remember sitting alone with my mother in her hospital room after a major surgery and doing what I could to help. During one groggy semi-conscious moment, she said "I never thought you'd be any good at this". I think she was saying she thought I was doing a good job and she was surprised. I didn't feel as if I was doing a good job. I felt lost and I felt stressed. I was an accidental caregiver. I think a lot of caregivers find themselves in unexpected situations, doing things for which … [Read more...]
Understanding the Types of Special Needs Trusts
If you wish to make a gift of assets to someone with special needs, care must be taken as to how you do this. You might do more harm than good. The same is true if a beneficiary with special needs receives assets from a third party other than you. To ensure that you do not interfere with the beneficiary’s eligibility for much-needed government assistance programs, a Special Needs Trust may be used. At Clarity Legal Group, our attorneys do special needs planning which can help our Durham, … [Read more...]
5 Things You Need to Do Immediately If You Are the Executor
The time period immediately following the loss of a loved one is often filled with heightened emotions and confusion. Understandably, the last thing most people want to think about during this time period are the legal ramifications of the decedent’s death. If, however, the decedent named you as the Executor of the estate in his or her Last Will and Testament, it is imperative that you focus on the probate of the estate left behind by your loved one. In this blog, I discuss the probate basics … [Read more...]
Why You Need to Update Your Estate Plan after a Divorce
Going through a divorce is never easy. On the contrary, even the most amicable divorce typically causes increased stress and anxiety. It comes as no surprise then that updating your estate plan is probably not at the forefront of your mind if you recently went through a divorce. While that is certainly understandable, I always urge our Durham, Raleigh, Cary and Chapel Hill area clients at Clarity Legal Group who experience a divorce -- or even the separation from a long time partner -- to … [Read more...]
New Tax Proposal re: Retirement Savings
There are new tax proposals working their way through the House and Senate. These proposals, if passed, would change retirement savings significantly. Read on to learn more about these proposals and whether they might impact you or your clients. New Tax Proposal re: Retirement Savings … [Read more...]
How to Pick Your Trustee
As both your estate and your family grow, the need for a more comprehensive estate plan will likely be clear. When you decide to improve your existing estate plan, additional estate planning tools and strategies may need to be considered and ultimately added to your existing plan. At Clarity Legal Group, our attorneys consider the Revocable Living Trust to be one of the most important foundations of a good comprehensive estate plan. If you decide to incorporate such a trust into your estate … [Read more...]
Beneficiary Designations, etc., Aren’t a True Substitute for a Trust
My friend Steve Hartnett, Director of Education for the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys has a clear blog post addressing the most basic differences between use of a transfer on death (TOD) or pay on death (POD) designation for an account rather than planning through a trust. These designations, like joint tenancy with right of survivorship, have a lure of simplicity which in my judgement is false. They do not address a variety of potential problems which might arise, they leave … [Read more...]
How Can I Use a Trust to Protect My Minor Child’s Inheritance?
Little in life is as simple as we hope or imagine. Having spent most of my legal career working in the estate planning field, I am still surprised by the little ways that a failure to plan can defeat the language in a legal document. Some people have legal documents, but no plan. This makes it all the more likely that the document will not do what it says. At lot of us become more aware of the need to have an estate plan when we become a parent. We want things to be simple even when we … [Read more...]
Planning to Avoid Too Much SALT
The 2018 changes in the federal tax laws were a mixed bag. One of the disadvantages for many tax payers was the new cap of $10,000 on federal deduction of state and local taxes. For many people this will mean a higher tax bill. Any time there is a change in the tax law, there will be people looking for different ways to get around the cap. I always encourage clients to be cautious. Anything in the tax world that sounds too good to be true, almost certainly is. Some of the ways people … [Read more...]
Why an Executor Should Hire a Probate Lawyer
My most recent posts have focused on the importance of probate avoidance and what approaches might best accomplish this important estate planning goal. Of course, a lot of people don't get to this step of planning, and some people establish a probate avoidance plan and the plan falls out of sync or something unexpected arises and there is still a probate. What happens then? The big thing is not to panic. If you have been named as the executor under a Will, one of the first things that you … [Read more...]
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