Author Archives: Jay Butchko
When Your Estate Contains Historically Significant Items
Making plans for non-monetary components of your estate often involves appraising their resale value, as well as the challenging task of thinking objectively about how much sentimental value the property will hold for members of your family. Some people hold onto family heirloom personal items for decades with the understanding that junk eventually turns… Read More »
Student Debt And Your Estate Plan
As going to college has become an expectation for a greater and greater number of young adults, student debt has become almost universal after those students graduate or decide, without making it all the way to graduation, that paying for college will do them more harm than good in the long run. If you… Read More »
Estate Planning Steps That LGBTQ+ Families Can’t Afford Not To Take
When a resident of Florida dies without a will, the person’s spouse, children, or siblings may inherit the estate, depending on your marital status and on which relatives are still living. The trouble is that estate law’s definition of a marriage and of parent-child relationships is somewhat narrower than the lived experiences of many… Read More »
The Case for Retiring Sooner Rather Than Later
Memory loss is one of the scariest things that can happen to a person. Fear of dementia, or at least, acknowledging that it can happen to anyone, motivates some people to be proactive about estate planning while causing others to avoid it, just so they do not have to confront their fear. The desire… Read More »
Who Needs an Estate Plan When You Have $20 Million of Sports Memorabilia?
A hobby you enjoy can make you feel young and make the transition from working life to retirement easier. When you plan for retirement, how much money you will need per year will depend on your expenses, so be honest with yourself and with your estate planning lawyer about how much your hobbies cost. … Read More »
The Personal Representative’s Duties to Known and Reasonably Ascertainable Creditors
Dealing with debts is no fun, whether the borrower for whose debts you are responsible is dead or alive. Contradictory rules about debt repayment and about the rights and obligations of borrowers and creditors can lead to confusion; just think about all the fine print at the bottom of the credit card statements you… Read More »
Early Retirement Is Overrated
You are a silver fox in a business suit. You relish your morning routine of standing in line at Starbucks with people who range in age from your peers to newly licensed drivers still in high school. Rare moments of pandemic doom scrolling notwithstanding, you can’t remember the last time you felt lonely, bored,… Read More »
Long-Lost Sibling Drama During Probate
Most protracted conflicts between siblings during the probate of their parent’s estate began long before the parents died. In fact, if your sibling rivalry didn’t go away once you had grown up and moved out of your parent’s house, and the probate of your parents’ estate did not turn into a major battle, it… Read More »
Four Important Retirement Questions to Ask Yourself at the Beginning of Your Estate Planning Process
Estate planning begins long before retirement. If you walk into an estate planning lawyer’s office after you have already retired, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise, such as that you will have to live much more modestly than you were hoping to if you want your children to inherit anything from you. … Read More »
Life Insurance and Your Estate Plan: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Life insurance has a reputation for being one of the dullest, most risk-averse things a person could buy. Brash, Entrepreneurship bros everywhere, from multilevel marketing videos on YouTube to the first hour of The Wolf of Wall Street deride the boring schmoes who spend their hard-earned cash betting minuscule amounts of money on their… Read More »
