Resources

Everyone who owns anything should have a will. A will puts you in charge of directing others to distribute your wealth according to your wishes upon your death. Without a will or other estate plan, you will have no control and the state’s rules determine who gets what after your death. For many reasons, the creation of a will is about passing your wealth to your loved ones after you pass. A will can put your wishes down on paper and direct a selected person to carry out your desires exactly as expressed.  Schedule a consultation with Attorney, Feliz Martone to learn more about how to get your own will or trust set up.

Now is the perfect time to start working on an estate plan—because, as newlyweds, you may not have a list of your accounts, but you've effectively just done a working inventory of your possessions—as you've figured out how to consolidate two households into one. You've already been working on the new banking and shared responsibility of bills and taxes and so forth. Use all that time and energy and work as a leapfrog into planning for your future—so you'll be that much more prepared for the house, the kids, and the next stages of your new life together.

One would assume that celebrities with extreme wealth would take steps to protect their estates. But think again: some of the world’s richest and most famous people enter the pearly gates with no estate plan, while others have made estate planning mistakes that tied up their fortunes and heirs in court for years. Let us look at three high-profile celebrity probate disasters and discover what lessons we can learn from them. 

This year, the deaths of two significant celebrities—the international rock superstar Eddie Van Halen and the global acting phenomenon Chadwick Boseman—provide examples of key considerations in this process. In some ways, these men could not be any more different; however, they serve as a lesson that all of us should have an estate plan in place to protect the ones we love.

It is possible for pet trust benefits to be passed generationally, so make sure your estate plan reflects your actual wishes and intentions.

What is the difference between SSDI and SSI? Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a federal disability program for individuals over the age of 18, but under the age of […]

An individual under the age of 18 may be considered disabled if he or she has a medically determinable physical or mental impairment or combination of impairments that causes marked […]

Social Security disability for individual’s over the age of 18 is defined as the inability to perform any substantial gainful activity due to any medically determinable physical or mental impairment […]

Not applying soon enough and months of eligibility can be lost. Missing the 60-day appeal deadline.  Accepting a later onset date that reduces the award of back benefits. Not responding […]

After arranging your accounts and property with an estate planning attorney, it is easy to assume that you have checked off estate planning off your list forever.  The reality is […]