Estate Planning

You’ve raised it before. Your spouse keeps saying “not now.” But every week that passes without a plan is a week your family’s future depends on chance instead of intention. Here’s what to do when you’re not on the same page, and what you can start doing today.

Most families believe they will inherit their loved one’s debt. Most debt collectors count on that fear. Your debt does not automatically transfer to your heirs, but it shapes how much they receive and what the estate must pay before they get anything. Here is exactly what happens and what your family needs to know before the collectors call.

The One Big Beautiful Bill raised the estate tax exemption to $15 million per person. That provision made headlines everywhere. A second one didn’t: a deduction limitation buried in a Congressional footnote that tax lawyers say may create double taxation inside family trusts, including special needs trusts with as little as $400,000 in assets. Here is what families with trusts need to know right now.

Most families assume that a list of passwords will be enough to access accounts after a death. That assumption is wrong, and the problem is not the list. The problem is a layer of security most accounts now require that no password can bypass. Here is what actually keeps families locked out, and what a real digital estate plan looks like.

He shows up for every game, knows the bedtime routine by heart, and considers these children his family. The children consider him theirs. But under the law, he doesn’t exist as a parent at all. This Father’s Day, here is what every stepfather and father figure needs to know.

Father’s Day is a celebration of presence. But the fathers who’ve truly done right by their families aren’t just the ones who showed up every day. They’re the ones who made sure their family would be protected whether they were there or not. If you haven’t answered the one question that matters most, this is where to start.

You’ve thought about who would raise your children if something happened to you. But thinking about it and actually naming someone in a legal document are two very different things. If your family doesn’t have an answer in writing, and something unexpected happens to you, a judge who has never met you or your children will make that decision. Here’s what you need to know, and what you can do about it today.

When a spouse dies, most surviving partners expect grief. They do not expect a tax bill. The “widow penalty” is a real and largely unrecognized consequence of losing a spouse that can cost a surviving partner thousands of dollars more every year in taxes and Medicare premiums, at the worst possible moment in their life. Here is what it is, who it affects, and what you can do now, while there is still time to plan.

You signed the Power of Attorney (POA). You thought your family was protected. But when a parent or spouse loses capacity, that document you trusted may get rejected at the very bank where you need it most, and your family may not have time to fight it. As your Personal Family Lawyer®, this is exactly the kind of gap I make it my job to close before you ever need to find out the hard way.