The internet offers all the information and tools we need at our fingertips to create our own estate plan, right? For most people, this is simply not true. Several years ago, Consumer Reports®, an independent nonprofit consumer watchdog group, created wills using the...
Welcome to 2020! A new year is a time for optimism and new opportunities. It is a time to start fresh and make sure you are headed in the right direction. But making New Year’s resolutions is not enough: Act now to ensure that you and your family or loved ones are...
After the 2018 passing of the legendary singer Aretha Franklin, her family and lawyer initially thought she had died without a will. But three handwritten wills—two from 2010 that were locked in a cabinet and one from 2014 that was hidden under a couch cushion—were...
We often think of retirement accounts as huge resources. It is easy to see why – we spend our working years socking away money for our future. Unfortunately, though, the rising cost of health care can quickly deplete even the largest of retirement funds. Because...
In 2008, Congress recognized the need for the public to understand the importance and benefits of estate planning by passing House Resolution 1499, which designated the third week of October as National Estate Planning Awareness Week. Nevertheless, according to a 2019...
The retirement years are supposed to be carefree—but what if you neglected to take the required minimum distribution (RMD) from one or more of your retirement accounts or took a distribution that was lower than required? This could be a costly mistake resulting in a...
