Estate Planning Mistakes 10 - Personal Family Lawyer

10 Common Errors When Naming Life Insurance Beneficiaries That Will Hurt the People You Love – and How to Fix Them

May 29, 2013

If you make a mistake in naming beneficiaries for your life insurance policy, the people you love will end up being hurt. Insure.com recently provided a list of the 10 life insurance beneficiary mistakes to avoid. We elaborate on how they’ll affect you and how to fix them. Naming minor children. If proceeds of your…

May 22, 2013

Unfortunately, money has a habit of bringing out the worst in people, even in the best of families. One of the most important reasons to get your [city/state] estate plan handled is to keep your family out of conflict. And, yet, without the right counsel, your estate plan could actually cause conflict! Here’s what to…

April 3, 2013

Three-time New York City Mayor Ed Koch died on Feb. 1, leaving an estate estimated between $10-$11 million. And it’s a good thing that “Hizzoner” loved governing, because one-quarter of his estate will be going to the state and federal governments. During his tenure as Mayor, Koch was famous for asking people on the street,…

March 28, 2013

Many parents perceive a conflict between funding a child’s college education and building their own retirement nest egg. The conflict usually arises from the lack of financial resources to do both while funding daily living expenses, so parents become stuck between priorities and usually wind up doing nothing at all. One of the things a…

March 22, 2013

They call it the “poor man’s estate planning.” Put your child on the title to your deed and avoid probate. Yet this “poor man’s” planning often ends up, well, poorly; and costing a lot more for the people you love. Here’s why and what you can do about it: Risk #1 of Poorman’s Estate Planning:…

January 10, 2013

The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 that Congress passed on New Year’s Day extended the Bush era tax cuts, but the benefits of those cuts for most American taxpayers will be offset by a 2% increase in payroll tax. According to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan Washington research group, less than 1% of…

January 10, 2013

In this article I will explain the difference between a Will-based plan and a Trust-based plan so you can make an educated decision for your family about what is best for you and, ultimately, for them. A Will-based plan is an estate plan that does not include a Living Trust to hold title to your…

July 27, 2012

You could be unintentionally reducing your family’s wealth potential if you do not properly designate the beneficiaries of your IRAs. Improper estate planning could mean that your IRA assets could pass to the wrong people or entities, so how you execute your beneficiary designations is critically important. Here are some of the steps that need…

What to Do When You Inherit a Retirement Account

July 13, 2012

As a Personal Family Lawyer®, I am often asked to help people who inherit a retirement account. The action you need to take with an inherited IRA depends upon your unique situation; the IRS has rules for each and recently announced that they will be cracking down on taxpayers who make mistakes with inherited IRAs. …

What a Will Won’t Do

July 9, 2012

There are a number of essential things a last will and testament can do for you, such as distribute family heirlooms and name a guardian for minor children, but there are some equally important things a will won’t do: Diminish estate taxes – a will won’t help you decrease your estate taxes, but a Personal…