Law Offices of Barton P. Levine

When a person dies, his or her estate must pass through the legal process known as probate. During probate, assets of the estate are inventoried.

For many of us, how our funeral is handled when we die is important. You may have very specific ideas about what type of service you want and whether you wish to be buried or cremated. Although you may have expressed your desires to family members or loved ones, there is no guarantee that those desires will be taken into account when you actually die.

Anyone with a substantial amount of assets eventually asks this question.Wanting to protect and provide for your grandchildren when you die is certainly understandable. However, spoiling them may not be in their best interest. The object then becomes creating an estate plan that provides for your grandchildren without making life too easy for them. With a little bit of thought and the proper estate planning tools you can accomplish your goal.

If the term “sandwich generation” doesn’t sound familiar to you, don’t worry, you are not alone. This is term that is being used to describe people who are nearing middle age that are being “sandwiched” between the needs of grown children and aging parents.

If you are like many people who have been fortunate enough, and worked hard enough, to have built up a sizeable and valuable estate, you may wish to provide a certain degree of financial stability to future generations. At the same time, you may be concerned that simply handing over your estate upon your death will create a spoiled child or grandchild.

You have likely been told how important estate planning is by numerous people. If you are like many people though, a real life example hits home much more effectively than general advice. The Larry Hillblom story is one of many famous examples of why estate planning should be done early one and revised on a regular basis.

With even the President of the United States openly supporting the rights of same-sex couples to marry the future looks brighter than ever for gay couples who want to enter into a legal marriage. For now, however, statistics tell us that as many as one million same-sex couples in America continue to struggle with providing similar rights and protections to their partner that a traditional marriage provides when it comes to estate planning.

When you lose a loved one, the grief is immeasurable. If you lost a loved one and you believe that someone else was at fault, it can add anger to the flood of emotions you are likely already feeling. It can also require you to do a number of legal things at the same time following the death.

A comprehensive estate plan typically includes a number of documents that contain highly personal and confidential information. Your estate planning documents may include decisions and choices that you wish to keep private. Given the ease with which information can be gathered and disseminated in the current electronic age, concerns about the privacy of your estate documents are certainly understandable.

The elderly population has always been an easy target for financial fraud by both illegitimate and legitimate companies. During the recent economic recession, reports of fraud against the elderly have been rising. The Federal Trade Commission in conjunction with state attorney generals has been increasing their consumer protection programs to protect elderly consumers.

We will start out by discussing the rules of eligibility for certain types of assistance programs. Next, we will discuss problems and pitfalls in planning for a Special Needs loved one. This will evolve into a discussion about what are believed to be the best options of planning for special loved ones - the Supplemental Needs Trust.