Funding a living trust

There are many benefits to a revocable living trust. It is a wonderful way to help you manage your estate while you are still alive and ensure that your heirs receive assets in a timely manner. One of the biggest advantages of a revocable living trust is that it allows you to maintain control of the assets while you are alive but will also help your heirs avoid probate after your death if you fund it while you are Read More

3 ways to avoid probate

When you work on your Georgia estate plan, you may want to make efforts that may help your loved ones and beneficiaries avoid probate. Probate is a sometimes complicated process that involves distributing your assets after you die. When assets go through probate, it often leads to delays in terms of when your intended beneficiaries see them. It is also a public and sometimes expensive process. For these reasons, it Read More

Do you know the signs of elder abuse?

Elder abuse is unfortunately a common issue. Some people take advantage of older people and treat them horribly because they feel nobody will believe them if they report it. To protect someone you love from abuse, you should understand the signs something is happening. The National Institute on Aging explains you should never write off signs because anyone is capable of abuse and it can happen anywhere. Abuse can be Read More

What is the importance of titles in estate planning?

The title of an asset designates the legal ownership. When planning your estate details, you want to be sure you understand titling and how it can impact what happens after you die. Citizen Bank explains the title of property conveys to the court who owns it, so if you were to transfer a title to someone else’s name, you could potentially avoid probate. Titling is a unique way to make adjustments so you can avoid Read More

3 characteristics of an effective special needs trustee

Using your estate plan to provide for a child who has a disability or special needs is a good way to cement your legacy. After all, even if your loved one qualifies for means-tested government assistance, the monthly funds he or she receives are likely to be meager. By setting up a special needs trust, you preserve your child’s eligibility for certain public benefits while giving him or her access to financial Read More

The Medicaid Look-Back Period

Here is a scenario that many people find themselves in: they have to find a way to pay for a nursing home or other long-term healthcare facility that they cannot afford. Realistically, most people can’t pay these sort of costs out of pocket. It would not be out of the question to discover that someone would need to pay upwards of $7000 -$10,000 a month to stay in one. These same people are put into a (seemingly) Read More

Long-term care planning concerns affecting women

Women tend to outlive men, which raises the question of how they may cover their needs without a husband or second income. As reported by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, women represented 74% of the solo income households over the age of 80 in 2018. Women with sufficient financial resources to live alone, such as a pension or retirement fund, may obtain the personal health care assistance they need by hiring a live-in Read More

What can you accomplish by establishing a trust?

When you work on your Georgia estate plan, you may decide to use different estate planning tools to accomplish different estate planning objectives. While a will is an important component in your estate plan, certain circumstances may warrant the creation of a trust. How does a trust work, and what might you be able to accomplish with one that you could not with a traditional will? Per Kiplinger, a trust is an estate Read More

Advantages offered by Medicare Advantage plans

As people in Georgia progress towards their later years, the issue of where they will get the benefits they currently earn through their employment inevitably arises. Chief among these benefits is healthcare, and the fear of not having adequate healthcare coverage may even prompt some to put off retirement (or return to the workforce after retiring). Yet health insurance through Medicare is there for those over the Read More

Is it time to revisit your plans?

Estate planning is not a “one and done” process. Even the best laid estate plans can and do become obsolete as things change in our lives. They need regular maintenance to ensure they continue to provide the best protection possible for the testator him or herself and the loved ones left behind. For example, you may have a current will that leaves the majority of your belongings to your spouse. A divorce later, Read More