By Mark T. Coulter, Esquire Estate Planning Attorney Many people talk about their concerns over the need for ‘nursing home’ care or Long Term Care in the future, with great fear of the shadowy doom of its incredible expense. Certainly many a family has been overwhelmed by long term care costs, but the first step to confronting the beast is to understand what it is. This article briefly discusses the types of care situations which are often lumped together under the heading of...

By Mark T. Coulter, Esquire Estate Planning Attorney The title to this document is perhaps a bit misleading. You can live without a Living Will. The problem is that you may not be able to decide under what terms you stop living without one. Maybe a better title is that you can’t die without one. Why? Because a Living Will is a document which lets you describe in advance just what type, and how many, extreme medical measures you want medical personnel to perform on you when you are barely...

By Mark T. Coulter, Esquire Estate Planning Attorney Divorce can be one of the most emotionally devastating events in a person’s life, but in the turmoil it can be far too easy to fail to properly consider the financial implications of an impending divorce, as well as its effect on your estate planning needs. In almost all divorce situations, new estate plans are required to accommodate the new financial and practical situation in which both parties now find themselves. If you fail...

By Mark T. Coulter, Esquire Estate Planning Attorney One fear of many elder citizens is the possibility of reaching the point in their life when a guardian may be appointed to oversee their lives. This concern is often twofold in nature: First, the fear of being in a mental state in which they can not function adequately, and second, the fear of having control over some or all of their life activities being in someone else’s hands. This article will acquaint you with guardianship practice,...

By Mark T. Coulter, Esquire Estate Planning Attorney Scientists estimate that the Earth has been in existence for 4.5 billion years. During that time, it has managed to keep on spinning, tides going in and out, sun rising and setting, without any help from you or me. That is the way life operates today too: It keeps moving forwards even when we aren’t able to do our part to help. Most people live their lives with the reasonable assumption that tomorrow will be pretty much like yesterday...

By Mark T. Coulter, Esquire Estate Planning Attorney For those people who expect to see their estate be subject to substantial estate taxes, one enticing work-around has been to leave some property in their will to their grandchildren, skipping over their own children, based on their own calculation that the children will just end up leaving portions of their inheritance to the grandchildren. The goal is to avoid one layer of taxation by skipping over the tax which would be paid if the money...

By Mark T. Coulter, Esquire Estate Planning Attorney Estate planning is nothing new. People have been making wills since the ancient times. Archeologists have discovered a will from 2550 B.C. from Sekhenren to his wife Teta, believed to be the oldest written will in existence. So, for about 5000 years we have been making written wills. Despite this lengthy history, we still see people making the same mistakes, over and over. Most times, it is because of a failure to take the time to consult...

Tools for larger estates and complex goals By Mark T. Coulter, Esquire Estate Planning Attorney The vast majority of people never need to get beyond a basic Will, Revocable Living Trust, Durable Power of Attorney and a Living Will/Health Care Proxy to address their estate planning needs. If, however, your estate is particularly large (2-3 times greater than the lifetime Gift Tax exclusion amount, or double the exemption amount for Estate Tax, more or less), then you may be looking for...

By Colin B. May, Esquire Estate Planning Attorney As a friend, parent, grandparent, or sibling of a person with a physical or mental disability, you know that we define our loved ones not by any particular limitation, but by who they are and what they bring to our lives. We share in times of joy and help one another through difficult times. And yet, we recognize that each person in our lives faces challenges that are unique and different from our own. At our firm, we assist families...

By Mark T. Coulter, Esquire Estate Planning Attorney People are often confused by the workings of a Living Trust, and have trouble making a decision regarding whether one is right for their plan. Living Trusts can be a valuable estate planning tool, but are not the easy answer to every estate planning question. Many salesmen, very few of them trained attorneys, pitch Living Trust kits to the public in much the same way that snake oil salesmen appealed to our ancestors. Instead of falling...