BUT I'M SELLING MY HOUSE "AS IS" I am an elder care lawyer. Elder law encompasses the entirety of my practice. (Sometimes, I think it encompasses...
Eldercare Lawyer Blog
Are Living Trusts Worth the Effort?
In last week's article, I began a discussion of Living Trusts. Most people who have thought about estate planning have heard about Living Trusts;...
AHD and HIPPA
INFORMED DECISIONS: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH We've all heard of a "living will." It's that document that says you don't want to be on a...
Decisions That Speak for You When You Can’t
MORE THAN A LIVING WILL One day, someone you love may need to make an important health care decision for you. Whether that person will be able to...
Estate Plans Fall Apart When Circumstances Change
A WILL FOR ALL SEASONS "Okay, how do you want to leave your property?" I say to the woman who has come to see me about drafting a Will. "I want to...
Accelerating Death Benefits
GETTING MONEY FROM LIFE INSURANCE DURING LIFE Viatication is a process through which an individual can sell their life insurance policy in order to...
A Proposal That Could Change Where Wills Are Found
BILL PROPOSES CREATION OF A WILL REGISTRY "Where do I keep my Will?" That's often a question on my clients' minds. "I don't want my children to have...
Will Challenges
MAKING YOUR WILL A FORTRESS A Will is really an amazing document. A Will is often no more than five pages in length, much of which is boilerplate...
Don’t Forget About Those Old U.S. Savings Bonds
DEATH, TAXES, AND U.S. SAVINGS BONDS In helping executors administer estates, I have learned that there are three things that are certain in life -...
The Power of Probate
THE POWER OF PROBATE Ask most anyone who's thought about the subject and they'll tell you - probate is a bad thing. People try to avoid probate, at...
Simplified Tax System
NEW JERSEY'S SIMPLIFIED TAX SYSTEM COULD BE COSTLY Could the method that an estate utilizes to report tax to the State of New Jersey result in...
Probate Is Easy
FOOL'S RUSH IN "My uncle recently passed away, Mr. Callinan, and I have a few questions," says the man who's come to see me this morning. "He left...
Probate Explained: What It Is and How the Process Works
Sometimes I think people fear probate more than they fear death itself. They want the management of their estate to be as simple as possible when...
Personal Liability
CAN MY EXECUTOR BE SUED? "I want to name my son as my executor," the woman tells me. "If I do, is he personally liable for any debts that I have...
What do my relatives receive from my estate?
WHO'S LAUGHING NOW? A "laughing heir" is a euphemistic term that estate planners use to describe a person who inherits money from a relative with...
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Recent Posts
Can You Refuse an Inheritance
When a person dies, he leaves his property—called his “Estate”—behind to be distributed to certain people. Who those people are depends on various circumstances. Did the decedent have a spouse? Did he have a last will and testament? Did he die without a Will, or...
Can the Nursing Home Kick Dad to the Curb?
When a client of mine goes to live in a nursing home, his family members often have a great number of concerns. One of the most frequent concerns I hear is the fear that the nursing home will kick the client out of the nursing home for one reason or another. The...
Some Assumptions Don’t Hold Up Under Closer Review
There are several misconceptions that I hear from clients on a regular basis. I thought I would take the time to write about several of the misconceptions I hear from clients most often. “But won’t the nursing home take my parents’ home?” Clients believe that once...
A Living Will Is not a Death Warrant
If you read my column regularly, you know that I recommend anyone over the age of eighteen having three, basic estate planning documents—a last will and testament, a financial power of attorney, and an advanced health care directive (or living will). And if you read...
Why Fear of Legal Fees and Probate Often Leads to Costly Mistakes
By concentrating my practice in one area—elder law—I see the same issue arise time-and-time again, so I understand the public’s reaction to certain issues and know that people will have that reaction before the reaction happens. For instance, whenever I mention the...
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