Creating a comprehensive estate plan usually requires you to incorporate estate planning documents and strategies that go beyond just a simple Last Will and Testament. One of the most common additions to an estate plan is a power of attorney. In fact, you may find that you create and execute several different powers of attorney during your lifetime. Unfortunately, the fact that a power of attorney is such a common legal document means that people frequently use a power of attorney without a … [Read more...]
Retirement Planning: Look Beyond the Active Years
As elder law attorneys, we specialize in retirement planning issues. In this post, we will look at some of the issues that retirement planning attorneys routinely address. Long-Term Care When you are planning ahead for the eventualities of aging, you should certainly understand some facts about long-term care. This is the type of care that you would receive in a nursing home or assisted living community. If you work during your life and pay taxes, you will qualify for Medicare when you reach … [Read more...]
How Business Owners Can Stay Motivated Every Day: Come to our Seminars
One of the biggest challenge that business owners face is motivation. Yes, they are motivated enough to start their business but there is no one really on top of them telling them what to do, how to do it, why to do it. They need to figure it out on their own. Entrepreneurs need to motivate themselves each day to get out of bed and create the perfect business. One way is to take advantage of free educational programs offered by the LA Institute of Estate Planning Professionals. That takes … [Read more...]
Medicare Enrollment Options for 2015-16
A summary of what you need to know. Provided by The Collins Law Group Key Medicare enrollment periods are approaching. This fall and winter, there are three periods in which Medicare beneficiaries can either enroll or disenroll in forms of coverage. >> Oct. 15-Dec. 7: Open enrollment period. This is when you can exit Original Medicare (Part A & B) for a Medicare Advantage Plan (Part C) and change your prescription drug coverage (Part D). You can also get out of a Part C plan … [Read more...]
The Importance of Estate Planning in Light of Bobbi Kristina Brown’s Death
Personal and financial decisions during life drastically impact legacy in death Click Here to REGISTER for one of our Free WILLS & LIVING TRUSTS Workshops and learn how you can protect your family and your legacy! (Los Angeles-August 3, 2015)--Bobbi Kristina Brown was laid to rest last month after experiencing an irreversible brain injury in January. Sadly, the circumstances of her death mirror those of her mother, music icon, Whitney Houston who passed away in 2012 on the eve of the … [Read more...]
Five Numbers
80%: The likelihood that a person age 65 will need nursing home, assisted living, home or community care during their lifetime.[1] $90,000: The average cost per year of a private room nursing home in California in 2012.[2] 2.5 years: The median length of stay in a nursing home (901 days).[3] $225,000: The average cost per year of a private room nursing home multiplied by the median length of stay.[4] $5,518: Median household wealth remaining after a family member lives in a nursing … [Read more...]
What an Unfunded Trust Is
When setting up a trust, preparing the documents does not finish the process. If the person who sets up the trust fails to properly transfer their assets into it, it can become an underfunded or unfunded. This lack of proper funding can lead to a failure of a person’s estate plan, and also increases the potential for disputes throughout the process of probating the estate. What an Unfunded Trust Is A trust is a legal construction that involves a trustor, a trustee, and a beneficiary. The … [Read more...]
The Pitfalls of Unfunded Trusts
Funding the Trust is an essential but often overlooked step towards avoiding a lengthy and expensive probate. Creating a trust instrument, with all of the appropriate instructions, provisos and expressions of intent, is worse than useless if no step is taken to fund the trust by transferring assets into the trust. Even when attorneys draft the trust instrument, they have been known to assume that clients will take this important step without explaining to them the need and importance. The … [Read more...]
