Find Your Home For the Holidays
Since this year my column falls on Christmas it seems fitting to consider what Christmas and the related holidays, Hannukah, New Years, Kwanzaa mean to us. There is an old song “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays.” What does that mean? What is home when a family member needs to move – maybe […]
Continue readingDealing With Death Over the Holidays
Loss does not take a vacation over the holidays and sometimes it seems this might be the time when some of the greatest losses occur. Whenever you have to face the death of a loved one it is difficult. Here is some information to pull matters together at that difficult time. Keep it available in […]
Continue readingKnowing Trusts – What You Can and Cannot Do
From time to time our office receives requests to establish a trust. This might be discussed during an appointment or a caller might simply call the office and say he needs a trust without further information. The caller might have read somewhere about the difficulty of probate or his/her financial advisor might have recommended a […]
Continue readingHow Joint Accounts and TOD Can Torpedo An Estate Plan
You just met a nice person at a bank, you did not remember her position, who told you there might be a way to avoid the horrors of probate by titling all of your accounts jointly with one of your children. On the other hand maybe you received information from a friend or neighbor who […]
Continue readingGet Rid of Your Mortgage Before Retiring
If you want to retire in peace without the worry of long term bills weighing on you there are few better ways than by getting rid of old mortgage debt and not taking out a new one. There are exceptions, of course, as always. If your assets are such that you are making more by […]
Continue readingHolidays Are Times For Heart to Heart Examination
Moving into the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Hannukah and New Years provides an opportunity for most people for heart to heart conversations and self-conversation unlike any other during the year. You can reconnect, change old habits, adopt new resolutions and decide who you really are, where you will live, and who you will spend […]
Continue readingWhat To Look For With Medicare Open Enrollment
Medicare Open Enrollment, the time when decisions are made regarding certain Medicare plans, began this year for 2019 on October 15 and will continue until December 7, 2018. The time is always surrounded by questions and concerns and the many glossy flyers consumers receive do not usually help in their decision making for what kind […]
Continue readingHealth Care Dialogue Continues
This is a column I wrote almost exactly a year ago on November 28, 2017. As almost everyone knows the health care dialogue continues without final answers. The only change from November 28, 2017 is the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed and the personal mandate was eliminated. Work continues. “Earlier this year, February 21, […]
Continue readingDo You Need To Retire?
When you reach a certain age – it could be 65 or somewhat older or younger – someone will likely confront you and ask what are your retirement plans or even assume you must be or should be retiring. Retirement for many who either have generous defined benefit pension plans or have saved over the […]
Continue readingSecond Marriages Might Complicate Long Term Care
When illness strikes you do not usually think of legal relationships but when a spouse needs serious care and is married to a second wife or husband, family relationships can bring with them unexpected problems and conflicts both for the second spouse and for children by a prior marriage. This is what sometimes happens. Suppose […]
Continue readingCreative Real Estate and Care Solutions
When seniors need to pay for care, they may be cash poor but living in a home with substantial equity. One immediate reaction might be to transfer the house to the children and then figure Medicaid would pay. That is usually wrong. Unless there is a clear exception such as a disabled child or Caretaker […]
Continue readingNew VA Regulation Threatens VA Benefit
On April 7, 2015 I submitted a column for publication in the Daily Local News alerting readers to a proposed change in qualifications for a Veterans’ benefit known as Aid & Attendance that would make it significantly more difficult for wartime veterans and their widows or widowers to obtain the benefit. That column and many […]
Continue readingUnderstanding Probate
When a family member dies in the midst of all the confusion and grief the person named as Executor or Executrix of the Will could be plagued with some additional questions. “Do I need to probate the Will?” Sometimes even “Is there a Will?” Then “If there is a Will, where is it?” “If I […]
Continue readingHow Easy Is It To Register To Vote
If you are a Pennsylvania resident and have not checked recently you might be surprised what is involved in registering to vote. Do you have a Smart Phone – an iPhone or Android? Do you have an Internet connection? Can you go on line? If so, there are easier ways to register than the paper […]
Continue readingReasons Why Medical Bills Are Out Of Control
If you ever wondered why you might receive a blockbuster medical bill even if you have health insurance, the reporting of Kaiser Health News can help. KHN, a nonprofit news service that reports on how the health care system works, is editorially independent of another well known nonprofit, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and not affiliated […]
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