Category Archives: Estate Planning
Your Contact List Can Make Or Break Your Estate Plan
Even if you are the very antithesis of a procrastinator, the kind of person who files their tax returns in February and finishes their Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, updating contact information can feel like a daunting task. Notifying the DMV and your health insurance company of your new address after moving into a new… Read More »
Widow Of Bakery Tycoon Withdraws Lawsuit Against Stepchildren Over His Estate
Almost everyone in Maryland has eaten a piece of bread or a sandwich bun that came from a bakery belonging to John Paterakis. His company, H&S Bakery, started out as a small family business, but by the time he died, his bakeries were producing two million hamburger buns per day for McDonald’s alone, not… Read More »
Preparing For Retirement Means Putting Away The Trappings Of Your Working Life
It feels liberating to get rid of something because you have happily moved onto another stage of your life. Donating the crib from your children’s bedroom to the Goodwill because your youngest child is old enough for a big kid bed feels like a victory, and so does trashing your shower caddy and mesh… Read More »
Maryland Just Made It Harder For Married People To Find Loopholes By Which To Disinherit Their Spouses
Marriage has always been an economic partnership, but recent generations have seen more variation from one couple to another in terms of how married couples join their finances or keep them separate. One would think that getting married late in life would mean having enough life experience to have an honest discussion about which… Read More »
Is “Early Inheritance” A Good Estate Planning Strategy?
Estate planning lawyers and financial planners may have given you the counterintuitive advice of spending or giving away as much of your assets as you can while you are alive. Yes, you need to save enough to provide for your own needs in your old age, but what do you do if you could… Read More »
How To Tank Your Estate Plan: Parent PLUS Loans
Not all parents take the same approach to estate planning, but everyone who has children takes their children into account when developing an estate plan. Some live well below their means while dreaming of leaving a generous inheritance for their children and grandchildren. Others maximize their annual gift tax exclusion and set up revocable… Read More »
The Inheritance Rights Of Former Spouses
With only one exception, you, as the testator of your will, have the final decision about how much, if anything, each of your relatives will inherit from your estate. Only your spouse has the right to claim an elective share of your estate, thus overriding the provisions of your will. If the decedent has… Read More »
Are Your Estranged Relatives Filing Objections In Probate Just To Mess With You?
Sometimes probate disputes are just a proxy for long-standing grudges between estranged family members. Genuine disagreements about the validity or intent of the deceased person’s will or other aspects of the deceased person’s estate plan can get mixed up with anger and grief over the decedent’s death and final illness. The law requires the… Read More »
Be Careful How You Word Your Declaration of Trust
Even if you are very early in the research and brainstorming phase of your estate planning process, you have probably given more than a passing thought to setting up a trust. Living trusts, which are set up during your lifetime, and testamentary trusts, the establishment of which is provided for in your will, make… Read More »
What Happens If a Maryland Resident Dies Without a Will?
As another decade begins, your New Year’s resolutions become less and less like the ones you used to set in your youth. Remember your resolution in 1999, when you resolved to brush your teeth every day, or your 2005 resolution to always get up before noon? If you are old enough to read a… Read More »
