Blog
A Text Is Not A Will
Last week, a court in France ruled that a text message sent shortly before a man’s death in 2016 altering his will was not enforceable. The court decided that a text message altering the terms of a legally executed will cannot be verified, and so is not considered a...
End-of-Summer Countdown: 8 Months Until Taxes Are Due
Depending on how you look at the year, we are either one-third of the way through the tax year (four months since you last filed taxes in April 2018), or we are in the last third of the calendar year (only four months until 2019!). No matter how you count it, the end...
Aretha Franklin Passed Without a Will or Trust. Three Lessons We Can Learn From the Queen of Soul’s Passing
Aretha Franklin recently passed away at 76 due to advanced pancreatic cancer. Last week, the media reported that the Queen of Soul died without creating a will or trust. Her four sons filed in Oakland County Probate Court and her niece, Sabrina Owens, asked to be...
3 Special Needs Planning Tips for Adult Sibling
Special Needs Planning for the Adult Sibling Whenever a family has a child with special needs, it is normally an all-hands-on-deck type of situation. Many times, the daily care of that child becomes the sole responsibility of the family. When the parents pass away,...
The Georgia Homestead Exemption: Decoded
In the State of Georgia, there are special benefits conferred to properties that qualify as homesteads. Only homeowners can receive the benefits of a homestead property, and these benefits are only available if the home is the owner’s legal residence as of January 1...
How the CHRONIC Care Act Will Impact Medicare Recipients
In February 2018, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act was signed into law. This law, which will go into effect in 2020, will expand Medicare coverage for enrollees with complex chronic illness. The purpose of...
What Types of Power of Attorney Exist?
Understanding the Types of Powers of Attorney in Georgia A power of attorney is a part of every estate plan, but many different types of powers of attorney exist for various types of situations. Before meeting with an estate attorney, it helps to understand what each...
How to Take Title to Your Georgia Property
When you are closing on a sale to buy real estate, the title company or law firm handling the transfer may ask you how you want to take title to the property. If you are not prepared for this question or do not have a lawyer reviewing the documents, this can be a...
Building a Legacy: Charitable Contributions as a Part of Your Estate Plan
As an estate planning practice, we meet with a lot of individuals and families that want to focus on building wealth and developing strategies that will protect loved ones in the future. Often, looking to the future turns the conversation to the subject of building a...
How a Second Marriage Affects Your Estate Plan
Estate Planning for a Blended Family When two families join to create a new family, this new arrangement can create complications for estate planning, especially when the new spouses have children from prior relationships. Many times, these spouses wish to protect...
Using a Revocable Living Trust to Transfer Real Estate
If you have been reading our blog, you have heard us talk about revocable living trusts (RLTs) before. If you haven’t, or if you don’t quite remember the ins and outs of an RLT, we will go through a quick review before moving on to our main topic of the day: should...
Dying with Debt: How Creditors Can Impact Your Legacy
Very often, clients tell us that they wish they hadn’t waited so long to start the estate planning process. It can seem scary or overwhelming, and there are a lot of reasons people put it off. One of the most common is that people want to wait until they have...