Dear Hayek, I am planning on doing my incapacity planning soon. I always like to plan ahead for everything. What are the varied medical issues and methods of intervention that a person should keep in mind in order to be thoughtful and thorough when doing incapacity planning? Thanks for your help! Planna Head — Dear […]
When A Trust is Ambiguous
Q. I have been married to my second husband, Tony, for 10 years. We have two children together and three from both of our previous marriages. I am very close with my mother-in-law, Isabella who recently moved in with us and helps with the children. She is very grateful that she and I have such […]
Is the New Netflix Movie “I Care A Lot” Realistic About Guardianship?
Q. I just watched “I Care A Lot” on Netflix and it was certainly eye-opening. In the story, a shady legal guardian, Marla Grayson, abuses the system by targeting wards that don’t really need her, places them in care facilities, and then assumes control of their assets. I was outraged that such a thing could […]
Does my Life Estate Qualify for Real Estate Tax Relief? Links for all County and City Tax Relief Applications.
Q. My mom has owned her home for over 20 years. Last year she came to your firm and did an irrevocable Medicaid Asset Protection Trust. Your firm deeded her house into the trust but had her keep a life estate in the house. She now wants to apply for real estate tax relief, which […]
What Do Different Generations Care Most About in Their Estate Planning?
Q. My daughter, Abby, is 30 and newly married. Similar to many of her friends, Abby and her husband decided to do their estate planning because the coronavirus got them thinking about their mortality. It got me and my husband, who are baby boomers, to thinking too. What are some of the things people of […]
How Well Did Eddie Van Halen, Kobe Bryant, and Alex Trebek Plan for Their Loved Ones?
As everyone knows, 2020 has been a challenging year for many reasons. Luckily, there are only nine more days left of the year, and we’re hoping that 2021 brings much better things. Besides the coronavirus pandemic, one of the reasons this year has been so difficult is the many people we have lost, including some […]
Happy Thanksgiving from the Farr Law Firm
How to Enjoy Thanksgiving in a Different Way this Year
Every year, Melissa and her family drive to New Jersey to spend Thanksgiving with her mother, a widow who lives alone. This year, with the kids still playing sports and Melissa and her husband still going into the office occasionally, they thought it would be a bad idea to make the trip and possibly expose […]
When You Inherit Unexpectedly
Q. When my sister-in-law, Erin, got her 23 and Me results in the mail a couple years ago, she was surprised to find out that she is Scottish, Irish, German, and almost a quarter Native American. Since then, she has connected with relatives all over the world and locally, including a wealthy great uncle in […]
How Do Directed Trusts Work?
Q. I recently read about what is called a directed trust, where an individual has power to direct the trustee on some aspect of the trust, such as investment management, administration, and distribution decisions, powers usually reserved to the trustee. By using this strategy, I understand that control over the assets can remain with a […]
When Guardianship Turns into a Nightmare
Kim Stryker, a Virginia resident, was a long-distance caregiver for her father, Steven Stryker, a Navy veteran residing in Florida. Steven had his share of health issues over the years including alcoholism, bipolar disorder, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from his time in Vietnam. Steven’s health got worse in 2018. Because Kim lived so […]
No Matter How Old He Is— He’s My Son and I’ll Take Care of Him!
Q. I read about a situation where a 98-year-old mom named Ada Keating moved into a senior home to help care for her 80-year-old son, Tom. As a single mom with a son, I could understand wanting to ensure your child is well cared for throughout his life, whether he is 8 or 80! I […]
Do Middle Class People Set Up Trust Funds?
Q. My mother is considering setting up trust funds for her grandchildren, hoping to give them a solid head start on adulthood when the time comes. She would like to provide them with guaranteed financial security later in life and help cover the costs of important life events, such as paying for college, a wedding, […]
Help Me Get Rid of This Timeshare Please!
Q. My aunt Helen left me a timeshare thinking she was doing me a favor. She always said I should travel more often, since I rarely go anywhere. Now, I have this timeshare and I still don’t travel (I’m a homebody, and that will never change.) So, now I’m stuck with a timeshare, and the […]
The Top 19 Weird Will Requests
The COVID-19 crisis has caused many Americans to contemplate their mortality. The pandemic has prompted people to think more about what to do if they become infected. And for many of these people, that includes thinking about estate planning. We’ve written many posts about coronavirus and the need for incapacity planning, estate planning, nursing home […]
If You Needed a Ventilator, Would You Really Want One?
Q. My niece, Rebecca, was hospitalized with coronavirus last month and was placed on a ventilator. When her temperature was quite high and her oxygen levels were low and she needed life-saving measures, she didn’t have an advance medical directive in place to indicate her preferences, so they just went ahead and hooked her up […]
Why Estate Planning is Even More Important During a Pandemic (Part 1 of a 3-part Series)
As Millie sits in her kitchen homeschooling her children, she realizes that she really doesn’t remember much of the math she learned in 5th grade. During a break, she turns on the television and a news brief flashes on the screen with Governor Northam informing Virginia residents that schools will be closed for the remainder […]
Easing Tax Time for Seniors
Erin loves the winter season in the DC area. She enjoys the brisk weather and the beauty that surrounds her, especially when the ground and the trees are covered with a light dusting of snow. She celebrates three of her grandchildren’s birthdays in February and her anniversary and St. Patrick’s Day in March. One thing […]
What Happens to the Tangible “Stuff” from a Parent’s Estate?
Sophie and her sister and two brothers grew up in a large home with lots of stuff. Their mother, Nancy, liked the finer things in life including Oriental rugs, artwork, fine jewelry, antiques, and collectible coins. Nancy and her late husband, George, were also sentimental and kept photo albums, collected special pottery that was sent […]
Avoid Disaster: Update Your Estate Planning Documents in Light of New SECURE Act Provision
Q. I completed my estate planning with your firm five years ago and elected to have my retirement plans pass into a “conduit trust” or “pass-through trust” for the benefit of my daughter, Hannah. My understanding was that the conduit trust would pay out required minimum distributions to her, and that the money would grow […]
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