Category Archives: Parenting

Leaving Money to Your Nieces and Nephews – Read This First

Picture this scenario…

You’ve worked hard, saved and managed to accumulate some wealth.

You’re not a robber baron by any means but you’re comfortable. Your siblings haven’t fared as well and you want to make sure that their children have the benefit of a solid higher education. With no children of your own, it seems the right thing to do.

What does this have to do with estate planning?
Nothing. I just like it.
So you set up 529 college education savings plans for your nieces and nephews, make them the beneficiaries, and mention everything in your will.

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There is No Such Thing as Emergency Estate Planning

Folks. I hate to break it to you. If you’re calling around frantically looking for an estate planner, you’re too late. Every time I get a call from someone looking for an attorney who can respond that day or even that week, someone is screwed—either the person in need or their family. There is no […]

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On the Matter of Inheritance

Inheritance is never about the money. Never has been, never will be. It’s about what our children are inheriting in terms of our “stuff” meaning our singular gifts and our emotional/psychological/ spiritual baggage. How well we have harvested that which belongs to us as sentient beings on a bountiful planet in a nondescript arm of […]

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Do NOT Take This Estate Planning Advice!

“Please, please, please. I beg you. Don’t take estate planning advice from your banker, financial advisor, insurance broker, mortgage broker, escrow agent, real estate agent, or your friends. I can’t tell you how much terrible, ill-informed advice there is out there that results in harm. Let these other professionals do what they do best and […]

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Love is the Only Real Currency

When I started this practice seven years ago, I had no idea that I’d discover the work I devoted myself to would teach me more about love than I ever dreamed. I’ve watched my fellow estate planners and mentors skirt the truth of our work, handily missing the most important aspect of planning for death. And […]

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