Articles Posted in Estate Planning

It’s so confusing! HIPAA, Health Care Directives, Powers of Attorney. How does one differ from the others?

A HIPAA Authorization, a Health Care Directive, and a Health Care Power of Attorney can easily be confused because all three have to do with your permission about your medical care and medical information.

Plus, both health care directives (aka living wills) and health care powers of attorney are known as “advance directives,” which only adds to the confusion.

It may be hard to believe, but the fact is, millennials are all grown up. They are buying homes, starting families, and caring for aging parents. Also, they are—at 22% of the population—the largest living generation in the U.S.

In 2021, Trust & Will did a proprietary study involving 22,850 millennials. The results included many insights into how and why people ages 25 to 44 are creating estate plans.

For instance, while many respondents created a Will or a trust for the usual reasons (34% said that becoming a parent was the inspiration, and 17% said that the pandemic was what made them take action), others are taking a non-traditional approach to estate planning.

Whether you’re talking professional or college sports, season tickets for popular sports teams are usually very hard to come by.

And, once someone acquires season tickets, they aren’t likely to give them up. In many instances, fans literally have to wait for someone to die before they can move up the waiting list for available seats.

When someone has waited a long time and paid a lot of money to get their hands on those coveted tickets, it’s not surprising that they might also like to keep them in the family, even after they’ve gone to that big stadium in the sky.

By Jill Brightman

We’ve seen it all too often lately.  A natural weather disaster strikes leaving a path of destruction and misery in its path.  In the midst of the shock and chaos, people are left scrambling trying to retrieve belongings and find the paperwork needed to help start the rebuilding and recovery process.

It’s a frightening scenario.  And, while we can’t always predict where, when and to whom the next storm or calamity may strike, there are some things we can do to prepare in advance.

Our country has made strides in advancing the rights and equality of the LGBTQ+ community – but, we still have a long way to go before same-sex couples are protected in the same way as heterosexual couples. As laws are being developed to protect everyone equally, it remains important for LGBTQ+ families to take special care in their estate planning in order to ensure that their wishes are followed.

Failure to plan appropriately can result in unintended consequences like a surviving partner being left completely out in the cold financially. The truth is, many laws still give preference to biological and recognized family relationships over same-sex partners. Matters can be further complicated when the LGBTQ+ individual’s family does not approve of their lifestyle, and would be content to just cut a partner out of any inheritance.

To avoid this kind of emotionally painful and financially devastating situation, LGBTQ+ couples should be diligent and proactive about estate planning. A well-designed and executed estate plan can also help avoid probate, which can in turn provide tax advantages as well as ensure your assets are disseminated as you intended.

If you’re single, estate planning might not be at the top of your priority list. You may assume, based on how most professionals talk about the process, that estate planning is mainly for couples with kids.

But the truth is, everyone should have an estate plan in place.

Even if you’re not deeply concerned about what will happen to your belongings when you are gone, there are many other reasons to have an estate plan.