» Aging Issues

A Halloween riddle for you: What's scarier than ghosts and goblins to Americans 50 and older? Answer: Their finances. That's the upshot of the latest Country Financial Security Index, and two other surveys I've seen lately back it up.… Read More

Art makes up 2.5 percent of the biggest estates and just 0.6 percent of those who had between $10 million and $20 million. A Picasso fetched more than $95 million in 2006. The superrich are different from the very, very rich. For one thing, they own… Read More

For decades, states have granted courts the power to appoint guardians or conservators for elderly or disabled people unable to tend to their basic needs. Most appointed guardians are family members, but judges can turn to a growing industry of profe… Read More

The most common estate planning mistake may surprise you. "The mistake actually isn't part of the will and trust," said Dan Prebish, head of life services events at Wells Fargo Advisors, based in St. Louis. "It actually has to do… Read More

The death of a loved one can create a lot of financial complexity. For families that have set up irrevocable trusts to facilitate the transfer of assets from one generation to another, the tax implications can be even more complicated. However, there… Read More

A Sonoma County bank overseeing the trust of a wealthy Kentfield divorcee who left a large chunk of her $8.5 million estate to her gardener and other non-family members will be allowed to dip into the fund to defend challenges from the woman's d… Read More

Three diseases, leading killers of Americans, often involve long periods of decline before death. Two of them — heart disease and cancer — usually require expensive drugs, surgeries and hospitalizations. The third, dementia, has no effective trea… Read More

Seems like the subject of estate taxes becomes part of every politician's election promises, and today's election environment is no different. Even though we are not really expecting significant changes in that area, estate taxes have chang… Read More