Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Don’t Let Chatbots Draft Legally Binding Agreements
Math teachers are acutely aware of how math phobic the majority of the population is, and most former math students will freely admit this. Meanwhile, writing teachers lament that people who do not write professionally or as a hobby do not realize how difficult it is to write a text that communicates the ideas… Read More »
Taking a House Off the Market Can Be a Strategic Move
Browsing real estate listings can be fun when you are just daydreaming about buying a house or when you are confident that you will be able to finalize a real estate deal. One of the pieces of information that most real estate listings include is how many days the house has been on the… Read More »
Disclaiming an Inheritance
Filmmakers can depict a disconnect between a character’s surroundings and his or her emotions by superimposing a soundtrack that doesn’t match the scene’s visuals. For example, if the protagonist is lonely at a dance party, the film can show the room full of partygoers dancing to energetic music and then focus on the protagonist… Read More »
The Housing Assistance Apocalypse
Rental assistance programs in their current state are a nightmare for everyone who deals with them, landlords and tenants alike. Once you are approved for benefits, it is an uphill battle to get them. More than a quarter of tenants approved for rental assistance never get to use it because they cannot find a… Read More »
In Terrorem Clauses in Maryland Wills
Except for what goes on in criminal courts, legal proceedings do not generally make good television or good plot-driven fiction. Unless you are exceptionally long in the tooth and longer in the attention span, you have probably not read Bleak House by Charles Dickens; it is the only fictional representation of a probate court… Read More »
The Senior Mortgage Borrower
By now, the word has gotten around that young people cannot afford to qualify for a home mortgage and buy a home. Their only hope for doing this is their parents, who can leverage their cash savings or, if necessary, their home equity, to provide money for a down payment, or else leverage their… Read More »
Long-Term Care Reality Check
You might think that your estate plan adequately accounts for long-term care insurance, but you probably have an unrealistic view of how much you have to pay. According to a recent report on the CNBC Personal Finance website, 57 percent of the people who retired in 2024 will eventually need to spend more than… Read More »
Your Fabulous First Year of Retirement
In less catastrophic times, estate planning lawyers used to tell their clients to follow the four percent rule. They said that you can expect 25 years of retirement, and if you only spend four percent of your retirement savings per year, you will have enough to last the rest of your life. More recently,… Read More »
In Praise of Old Folks’ Homes
If you are old enough to have a stable job, you are old enough to be cringe. Since both of these describe you, it stands to reason that you have read the latest research on happiness. A recent article in the New York Times says that what determines how happy we are is not… Read More »
Twilight of the Starter Homes
This charade of Baby Boomers freaking out about the indifference of Millennials toward the various trappings of adulthood that Boomers once held dear has gone on for long enough. It isn’t about “kids these days” anymore, since the oldest millennials are fast approaching the horizon of the AARP mailing list. Every generation grows up… Read More »
