Vanessa Terzian E: vterzian@lagerlof.com PH: 818-864-6174 | Edward Terzian E: consultation@inheritancerecovery.com PH: 818-579-2358
How to Talk to Your Spouse About Estate Planning As Personal Family Lawyers®, we see it every day: one spouse is more motivated that the other to establish an estate plan, either because he or she just inherited a tidy sum or because one is a planner by nature and the other is a procrastinator.…
How to Plan for the Long-Term Care of a Special Needs Child Parents of special needs children are naturally concerned about how that child will get the care he or she needs after they are gone. There are several ways to plan for the care of a long-term disabled heir, including: Special Needs Trust –…
Joint Ownership of Assets Can Have Unintended Consequences While there are some good reasons why parents and adult children consider joint ownership of assets, there are also some potential unintended consequences, including: Divorce: If a parent adds an adult child as joint owner on bank or investment accounts and that adult child becomes party to…
Planning for Loss: Legal Protections For Those Facing a Diagnosis of Dementia If you or a family member are one of the millions of Americans facing a diagnosis of some type of dementia, it is critical that you have the essential estate planning documents in place that will protect you and your loved ones. And…
Considerations for Choosing a Guardian for Minor Children To ensure your children continue with the lifestyle and values you want for them, it is important to put aside your fears and make an estate plan that includes selecting an appropriate guardian. A skilled Personal Family Lawyer® can be a valuable ally to help walk you…
Planning for Estate Taxes in 2013 and Beyond What will happen to estate taxes in 2013? Right now, you may as well try to predict what the weather will be on Jan. 1 than count on new laws from a contentious Congress still debating the scenarios. The estate and gift tax exemptions that were set…
Could You Be Responsible for Your Parents’ Long-Term Care Bill? Currently, 29 states have what is known as filial support laws, which means that children of destitute parents could be on the hook for unpaid long-term care bills. Historically, usage of these laws has been uncommon, but with cutbacks to federally funded programs like Medicaid,…
How to Protect Your Assets Through Estate Planning If you need to transfer assets to or from an estate, retirement fund, bank account, or other property/accounts for any reason, there are a few intelligent places to transfer to, with the help of a Personal Family Lawyer®. Certain places that you can transfer money to–both in…
How to Correctly Name Beneficiaries for Your IRAs You could be unintentionally reducing your family’s wealth potential if you do not properly designate the beneficiaries of your IRAs. Improper estate planning could mean that your IRA assets could pass to the wrong people or entities, so how you execute your beneficiary designations is critically important.…
What to Do When You Inherit a Retirement Account As a Personal Family Lawyer®, I am often asked to help people who inherit a retirement account. The action you need to take with an inherited IRA depends upon your unique situation; the IRS has rules for each and recently announced that they will be cracking…