Undue influence refers to taking unfair advantage over another person's weakness of body or mind and using it to produce an unfair advantage over someone. This comes up most frequently in the context of estate planning in which you might argue that a loved one has been unduly influenced by an outside party. Imagine that one of your loved ones is handicapped, requires in-home care, is elderly or is experiencing Read More
What Is a Trustee Fee?
A trustee is a person who serves in an important role in managing the assets and administration of a trust. This person is also entitled to receive compensation based on their efforts managing the assets and the responsibilities associated with the trust. Trustee fees are payments for services rendered whether the trustee is an organization or an individual. Various duties are associated with the responsibility of a Read More
Why You Can’t View Medicare As a Comprehensive Plan for Long Term Care
Medicare is often an important component of your overall health expenses and plan for your retirement years. However, it is a misconception to assume that it will help you when it comes to your long-term care expenses. Given that long term care expenses, especially those associated with nursing home stays can be very expensive and can dip into your savings significantly, it is important to sit down with an elder Read More
Yes, You Still Need a Financial Plan Even After a Pandemic
There is no doubt that the year 2020 has been unpredictable across the board, including financially. This makes many people hesitant to update their plans or to establish a new planning strategy altogether. However, a financial plan and an estate plan are some of the most important things you can work on even if you only develop a framework that needs to be amended later. Despite all of the uncertainty around you, Read More
What Powers Can I Authorize Under a Durable Power of Attorney?
A durable and general power of attorney is an important document that should be at the cornerstone of your estate planning. A power of attorney is most effective in the event of incapacity, such as an illness or event that renders you unable to make decisions or take certain actions on your own. You can decide what works best for your situation and then discussing setting your POA up that way with your lawyer. A Read More
What Does a Convenience Account Have to Do with a Power of Attorney?
If you are concerned about being able to keep up with your banking and your bill paying, using a durable power of attorney is an excellent way to appoint another person to make these decisions and take these actions on your behalf. In the process of setting up your planning, you might run across the term convenience account. If you are older and concerned about keeping up with your financial affairs, it is natural Read More
Should My Financial Power of Attorney Agent Get Extra Authority?
Using a simple power of attorney form makes it seem as though it will be a seamless process to transfer financial authority to this person. However, you might not realize in filling out a simple online form or downloadable PDF that there are significant powers a DIY template like this does not include. It's important to educate yourself about these possibilities so that you can determine whether there are Read More
Preventing Challenges or Conflicts with Your Power of Attorney Document
Creating a financial power of attorney is one of the first and most important steps that you can take to protect yourself in the event that you become unable to make decisions or take actions with your finances. However, you'll want to ensure that your financial power of attorney is properly drafted and accepted. If you think that someone might end up going to court to challenge your durable power of attorney for Read More
How to Make Things Easier for Your Executor
When you name someone as the executor of your estate, you are sending a message that you trust them significantly because this person is responsible for handling all of your affairs when you are no longer around. You are also passing on a lot of tasks and work for this executor because it is a very time-consuming process to wrap up an estate. Some of the steps that you take now can make things much easier for your Read More
Why Being Proactive Is Important for Estate & Elder Planning
You know that you need to create an estate and finding a way to craft these documents will not only give you peace of mind but makes things easier for your loved ones. But if you haven't taken the steps already to put your estate plan into writing, you could be leaving your loved ones to deal with the difficult task of having to wait for the court to process your probated estate. The court becomes empowered to make Read More
