Updating Your Estate Plan When Your Finances Change
If your estate has changed in value — either increased or decreased — do you need to change your will?
Preventing a Will Contest
It may be impossible to keep relatives from fighting over your will entirely, but there are steps you can take to try to minimize squabbles and ensure your wishes are carried out.
New Rule Once Again Allows Nursing Home Arbitration Agreements
The Trump administration is officially rolling back a ban on the use of arbitration agreements by nursing homes, once again allowing nursing facilities to ask families to give up their right to sue over patient injuries or deaths.
Reports Find Hospice Deficiencies Go Unaddressed
Hospice care is supposed to help terminally ill patients maintain their quality of life at the end of their life, but two new government reports find that serious problems in some hospices may be actually causing harm to hospice patients.
Should You Sell Your Life Insurance Policy?
Older Americans with a life insurance policy that they no longer need have the option to sell the policy to investors. These transactions, called “life settlements,” can bring in needed cash, but are they a good idea?
Medicaid’s Gift to Children Who Help Parents Postpone Nursing Home Care
There are circumstances in which transferring a house will not result in a Medicaid penalty period, and one of those is if the Medicaid applicant transfers the house to a “caretaker child.”
Powers of Attorney Come in Different Flavors
A power of attorney is a very important estate planning tool, but in fact there are several different kinds of powers of attorney that can be used for different purposes.
Does Your Will Name an Alternate Beneficiary?
What will happen to your estate if your primary beneficiary does not survive you? If your will does not name an alternate beneficiary, your estate will be divided according to state law, which may not be what you want.
Don’t Leave Children Unequal Shares By Mistake
Siblings do not always receive equal shares of a parent’s estate. Sometimes the inequality is intentional and sometimes it is accidental. Regardless of how it happens, it can cause arguments among the children.
Steps to Take in Advance of Death or Disability
No one wants to face the fact that our loved ones will not be with us forever and facing our own mortality is frightening as well, but it is important to be prepared.