Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Should A Strategic Divorce Be Part Of Your Estate Plan?
Marriage is one of the best investments you can make in your future. Married people are healthier, wealthier, and less lonely than their unmarried counterparts. The mere existence of your spouse makes probate simpler, because whether or not there is a will, the surviving spouse automatically inherits the couple’s jointly held property. Some couples… Read More »
Is There Such A Thing As A Wrong Beneficiary For A Non-Probate Asset?
One of the most fun parts of estate planning is that you can leave your property to anyone you choose. It is exhilarating to type drafts of your will that you know you will never formalize in which you leave your entire estate to a rescue shelter for sugar gliders or to your high… Read More »
The Commitment Phobe’s Guide To Trusts
You know you are old when you start making New Year’s resolutions, because it means that you are old enough to understand that, while not everything is within your control, your actions have an effect on your life satisfaction. The trouble with New Year’s resolutions is that they require commitment, and you are a… Read More »
How Creditor Proof Is Your Retirement Account?
In some ways, worrying about whether the money in your retirement account is enough to sustain you in retirement is a high class worry; if you have an employer-provided retirement account, you are in a better position than most. At minimum, you will get Social Security income when you retire, plus a modest distribution… Read More »
Can The Personal Representative Of An Estate Resign From The Role?
No one enjoys being the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate, with the possible exception of lawyers who choose to focus their practice on estate planning and probate cases. It is at least as much work as filing your taxes, and even if you get an inheritance at the end, this inheritance is… Read More »
The Risk Of Identity Theft Does Not End When You Die
If you are a caregiver for an elderly family member, you are always on your guard against financial abuse. You monitor your elderly family member’s transactions, and perhaps you even have a power of attorney. You get suspicious when a professional caregiver or anyone else seems overly interested in befriending your family member. Maybe… Read More »
Probate Shortcuts For Small Estates
Estate planning is not just for rich people, but it is certainly more fun to daydream about your loved ones inheriting property than it is to imagine them paying your outstanding debts until there is nothing left. Probate is not fun for anyone, even if they inherit a sizable amount of property, but it… Read More »
Two Is A Crowd When It Comes To Personal Representatives Of An Estate
Diversifying your investments is one of the most fun parts of estate planning, especially since it does not require you to contemplate your mortality. If you adopt the mindset that diversity equals abundance and apply it to writing your will, you might decide to designate two or more people as personal representatives of your… Read More »
Regrouping After A Major Hurricane: An Estate Planning Lawyer’s Perspective
Estate planning lawyers operate on the assumption that the goal of estate planning is not to die with the most money or to share the least amount of one’s money with the IRS, but rather to make things less stressful for you and your loved ones in the face of adverse events. The usual… Read More »
You Can Live Without A Revocable Trust, And So Can Your Heirs
If you look for estate planning checklists online, you might see “establish a revocable trust and fund it” right after writing a will and signing a medical advance directive. Everyone needs a written expression of their wishes about their own medical care in a worst-case scenario, and almost everyone’s probate case would be simpler… Read More »
