by John C. Martin | Jul 19, 2012 | Estate Plan Maintenance, Estate Planning for Families
You have signed all of your estate planning documents and, if your plan includes trusts, completed their funding. You sit back, relax, and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with completing that task. But don’t bask in that feeling for too long—estate planning is an...
by John C. Martin | Jul 13, 2012 | Advanced Directive, Estate Plan Maintenance, Estate Planning for Families, Living Will
March 31, 2012 marked the seventh anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo, the 41-year-old who succumbed after her feeding tube was removed as part of a very public legal battle between her husband and parents. As you may recall, Terri Schiavo was in a coma...
by John C. Martin | Jul 3, 2012 | Estate Planning for Families
In first marriages, the couple generally has the same goals when it comes to their estate planning: take care of the surviving spouse for as long as he or she lives, then whatever is left will go to the children. They may own many of their assets jointly and, at the...
by John C. Martin | Jun 30, 2012 | Estate Planning for Families
With the number of online and do-it-yourself (DIY) legal providers continuing to grow, some of individuals may be wondering if they could do their estate planning themselves. The advertising is seductive: attorneys use similar forms, the cost is significantly less...
by John C. Martin | Jun 27, 2012 | Digital Assets, Estate Plan Maintenance, Estate Planning for Families
It wasn’t very long ago that we had only paper for financial and tax records. We could simply point to a file cabinet or drawer and tell someone, “Everything is in there when the time comes.” But now we have computers and the internet, and so much of our lives is...
by John C. Martin | Jun 23, 2012 | Estate Planning for Families, Family Values and History
Many Americans have the misperception that estate planning is simply preparing for one’s death and is only necessary for the affluent. To the contrary, estate planning is as much about passing values to loved ones as it is about passing material possessions....