Mary frowned at the local newscaster on the television. “I swear I have no idea what he’s talking about with this new tax law. He keeps talking about the estate tax this and the gift tax that. I have no clue what’s up and what’s down.” Her husband, John, replied, “Changes in the tax laws seem to affect everything. And…
The California Legislature, late in 2017, enacted the Building Homes and Jobs Act. The stated purpose of this law is to establish permanent and ongoing source of funding for affordable housing developments. Part of the law that affects those doing estate planning is a $75 recording fee that must “be paid at the time of recording of every real estate…
It began on a sunny Saturday morning, when 70-year-old Sandra Johnson’s phone rang.
“Sandra, Sandra Johnson?” the caller asked.
“Yes, that’s me,” she responded.
“I’m pleased to inform you that you have won the Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, a grand prize of $1 million! Unfortunately, when we went to your address to deliver the check, no one was home. Before we go further, could you verify your address for me?”
April 16th is National Healthcare Decisions Day, a day dedicated to “ensuring that all adults with decision-making capacity in the United States have the information and opportunity to communicate and document their healthcare decisions.” Our firm is in complete support of such a goal. In fact, we include a Health Care Directive as an important component of each estate plan…
Once a person has created an estate plan, the object is to preserve it. Unfortunately, for many seniors in particular, this can be a daunting task as the number of scams that target older Americans is increasing. Just because your funds and home are in a trust, that doesn’t mean a predator cannot target you as you are still in…
The advance health care directive is one of the most crucial estate planning documents that you can create for yourself. This document gives someone you choose (“agent”) the power to manage your medical and health care affairs if you become incapacitated or mentally impaired. It is a position of maximum trust. If you plan to appoint someone as your agent,…
We live today in more of a ‘do-it-yourself’ world and that goes for legal topics as well. It started with an avalanche of self-help legal books. Then the law became much more ‘form driven’ whereby one plugs information into online forms and/or templates and prints them out for filing or files them online. Add to that the large number of…