News & Articles

A Beneficiary Blunder: Can Your Ex-Spouse Inherit Your Life Insurance?

Words to the wise: keep beneficiary forms up to date. To change a beneficiary — for example, if you get married or divorced or your spouse dies — make sure to file an amended form. Even if your state has a law designed to cover oversights (or pro… Read More
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A New Outlook on the “Trust Fund Baby”

Many wealthy people worry about the potentially corrosive effect of making their children superrich. Not Larry Ellison. The Oracle founder and CEO, the third richest man in the United States — worth $43 billion, according to FORBES’ latest estima… Read More
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Asset Planning with a Digital Twist

Much has been written about how family members struggle to get access to the e-mail and social network accounts of loved ones who have died. They have sentimental value much the way photo albums and personal letters do. But far less attention has bee… Read More
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Have You Considered a Conservation Easement for Your Land?

When you make a charitable contribution of anything other than money or marketable securities, there will always be a valuation issue. At least, it will usually be clear what it is that you are giving away.  A conservation easement is different.… Read More
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Categories: Estate Planning

Charitable Giving or Elder Abuse? Uncertainties of a Late Heiress’s Last Years

Admitted in 1991, Mrs. Clark ended up staying until her death, giving the hospital at least $4 million in donations, not counting millions more she paid just to live there and a $1 million bequest in her final, contested will, according to court pape… Read More
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And the Business Goes to …the Employees?

Dawn Huston, 31, started working at Dansko 11 years ago, sorting shoes for delivery. Now a warehouse processor, she said the idea of owning a piece of the company made her nervous at first—though she wasn’t worried about her retirement savings, s… Read More
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Medical Alert Scam Becoming Widespread

Barbara Adams, 70, keeps getting one of those annoying robocalls that she just knows has to be a scam. The voice implies that somebody, her doctor or maybe her children, signed her up for a medical alert system. It's all free, the recording impl… Read More
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Dodging the Family Feud over Your Estate

Unfortunately, estate planning can cause family feuds over inheritance, often leading to litigation that can become lengthy and costly with no clear winner. From our experience, family litigation occurs not from a lack of trying to solve the issue, b… Read More
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Don’t Hold Off on Having Those Hard “Talks” … Or It Will Cost You

If you haven’t had a conversation with your parents about handling their financial affairs after they die, Krysten Crawford’s tale may spring you into action. Certain “talks” or conversations are imperative, although some of those discussions… Read More
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Don’t “Escheat” Your Family Inheritance

Nearly 2.5 million Americans died last year, many without signing a will. One of them was apparently Roman Blum, a Holocaust survivor and New York real estate developer who was worth almost $40 million when he passed away in January 2012 at the age o… Read More
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Categories: Uncategorized