bethesda

Is Your Estate Plan Up-To-Date?:An Estate Planning Checklist

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If you’ve already met with your Maryland estate planning attorney to put together your wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and other long-term plans, then congratulations!  You’ve taken a really important step toward being prepared for the future and making things easier on your family and friends should you pass away or become unable to make … Read more

Advice on Using a Safe Deposit Box

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Once you’ve gone through your estate planning, you’ve likely become aware of just what valuables you have.  In many cases, such as jewelry, you may want to keep them in your home so you can have access to them whenever you would like.  In other cases, though, it makes sense to secure them in a … Read more

Elder Lawyer Perspective: Legal Concerns for Caregivers

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Elder lawyers in Maryland work not just with our older clients, but also with their caregivers.  In many cases, this means adult children who have or will be given power of attorney, not to mention those who just step up to help when something is needed.  There are some legal issues which seem to arise … Read more

Sharing Financial and Legal Information with Your Family

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Every family has its own approach when it comes to talking about financial and legal information.  Will and trust lawyers see everything from very open and transparent situations to those where discussions of money are considered taboo.  In reality, families which are at the estate planning phase should be having at least some superficial conversations … Read more

Using a Pet Trust as Part of Your Estate Planning

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No matter how much you love your pets and feel they are “part of the family,” they are generally seen as property by Maryland courts and are therefore treated accordingly.  This can cause some concern for pet owners who want to ensure their pets are well-cared-for and able to transition as smoothly as possible after … Read more

How to Start Conversations with Your Aging Parents

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There are several aspects of estate planning in Maryland that are less than fun, and that means that a lot of people choose to put the process off indefinitely.  There’s the need to gather a lot of documentation together, pay for an estate planning attorney, and not insignificantly, to contemplate one’s own death.  Adult children … Read more

Be Organized and Ready When Meeting With Your Trust and Estates Attorney

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To better streamline the Maryland estate planning process, it can be incredibly helpful to do a bit of organizing before meeting with your attorney.

This allows you to feel confident in what you’re doing, as well as minimize the time spent on the task at hand.  Both you and your lawyer will benefit from clear, concise communication, and if anything is missing, it will be considerably easier to discover and remedy the situation up front.  A Bethesda or Largo trust and estates lawyer would advise you to consider all of these things in preparation for your meeting.

First, compile a list of your assets and liabilities.  Doing this in advance, rather than waiting to be directed by your estate planning lawyer can save a fair amount of time.  Again, if you’ve overlooked something, the attorney will likely be able to point it out, but you won’t have to go through the basics during your consultation time.  Some of the assets and liabilities you’ll want to include are:

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Your Trusts and Estates Attorney Can Help Plan for Your Religious Needs

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When it comes to estate planning, most of us are aware of the common things we need to discuss with our attorney.  There are so many financial concerns, legal concerns, and even personal concerns regarding a person’s inheritance and other desires.

However, when it comes down to honoring our deepest religious or spiritual desires, many people overlook the necessity of incorporating such wishes into their estate.  When religion plays an important role in someone’s life, it makes sense that it would also be important in the legacy they leave behind.

Many estate planning attorneys don’t necessarily focus a lot of their expertise on the religious aspects of planning, which makes sense.  After all, there are so many religions that it would be impossible for one attorney to be well versed in them all.  However, if there are religious preferences you would like to see incorporated into your estate plan, a skilled attorney can help you legally document the wishes of your faith.

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4 Reasons You Need a Will Now, According to a Bethesda and Largo Wills and Estates Lawyer

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Of course it makes sense that a wills and estates attorney would tell you to create a will, right?  Our job is to help people plan for what will happen to their estates once they’re gone.  But, having been involved in estate planning in Bethesda and Largo for such a long time, it’s clear that message of proper planning is something more people still need to hear.

That’s why I’ve put together a list of four brief reasons that explain why you need a will…and why it must be created sooner, rather than later.  There are certainly many other aspects to consider, but these can have a great impact on the future of your estate:

Reason You Need a Will #1:  It Saves Money

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How Your Bethesda or Largo Estate Planning Attorney Can Help Protect Intergenerational Wealth Transfers

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A recent article on Forbes.com took a look into the surprisingly high rate at which intergenerational wealth transfers fail.  This is undoubtedly a major issue of consideration for estate planning attorneys in Bethesda and Largo and beyond.  Our goal is for your wishes to be followed both in specific and in the spirit of your intentions.  So, if transfers are failing, it makes sense to examine why and learn how to avoid these issues in the future.

According to research done by Roy Williams and Vic Preisser, intergenerational wealth transfers fail a staggering 70% of the time! The main factor in the failures was that the families themselves did not implement any post-transition planning.  That is to say, the heirs were never prepared to take on the privileges and responsibilities of inheriting the family’s wealth.

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