Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Estate Planning In A Panic Is Better Than Not Estate Planning At All
It’s after midnight, and the house is quiet. Even though every sound your children make when they are awake drives you up the wall, their innocent, expressionless faces and the sound of their deep breaths when they are asleep fill you with calm. At least, they usually do. Tonight, you are acutely aware of… Read More »
Who’s Afraid Of Skilled Nursing Facilities?
You can tell just by a quick exploration of an estate planning law firm’s website that nursing home planning is part of the process. When you are in middle age, and your every moment is taken up by parenting or work, going to a nursing home or assisted living facility seems like something that… Read More »
Toward An Affordable Retirement In Florida
You have probably been hearing that your retirement savings goal should be $1 million by age 65 since before you started receiving mail from the AARP. The chorus of voices that says that $1 million only yields you a meager retirement income, and that you need significantly more than that to retire comfortably, has… Read More »
On The Importance Of Designating Successor Beneficiaries
One way to get started on your estate plan is to convince yourself that you can set it and forget it. You can tell yourself that it only takes a few hours to write a will, but after you invest these few hours, you will save your family a lifetime of heartache. It is… Read More »
Florida’s New Alimony Laws Are A Rude Awakening For Divorced Seniors
Every divorced person should rewrite his or her estate plan, but most of them do not, at least not until a serious health problem or a serious remarriage prospect appears. While it would be lovely to approach your estate plan with an abundance mindset, a lot of people’s motivation to get started on their… Read More »
Reality Check: Your Clutter Will Not Destroy Your Family
On some corners of the Internet, people seem to think that a person’s moral worth is inversely proportional to the amount of stuff he or she owns. By this logic, your grandmother’s kindness and generosity were canceled out by her collection of souvenir spoons that formed such a thick layer on the walls of… Read More »
Considerations About Inheriting Real Estate
The annoyances of homeownership are a popular subject of conversation at housewarming parties. The new homeowners will proudly humblebrag about all the costly repairs they made before they moved in and the ones they plan to make next. The conversation then turns to a game of one-upmanship about homeowners’ association dues and the aches… Read More »
An Estate Plan For Your Intangible Heritage
The clients of estate planning lawyers invest a lot of time on saving money after they die, which, when you say it out loud, sounds absurd. Everyone knows that going out of your way to avoid spending money even when you are financially secure isn’t about wanting to avoid poverty; it’s about wanting to… Read More »
A Second Act Career Is An Underrated Way To Spend Your 60s
As much as young people might fear old age, there are a lot of things you do not miss about being young. For example, you do not miss always feeling like you have to impress your current employer and prospective employers. You also don’t miss the stress of middle age, where you worry that… Read More »
Collecting Debts On Behalf Of The Estate Of A Deceased Person
It is frustrating when creditors keep pursuing you about debts you cannot pay. At least, when you are the personal representative of an estate and creditors contact you to collect money that the decedent owed them, you can respond, “The person to whom you lent money is dead. Kindly accept this paltry settlement and… Read More »
