South Florida Estate Planning News
Recent Posts and Articles
You Can Give Away More Tax Free in 2018
After staying the same for five years, the amount you can give away to any one individual in a particular year without reporting the gift will increase in 2018. The annual gift tax exclusion for 2018 is rising from $14,000 to $15,000. This means that any person who gives away…
Read MoreWealth vs. Health
I came across this great article in Forbes’ Wells Fargo Voice from last month written by Alice Lesch Kelly that I want to share: Wealth Vs. Health: Take A Balanced Approach: (Go to: Forbes for original post, mostly reproduced here). We all need balance in our lives and this article…
Read MoreHow Will You Know if Your College- Aged Child is Hurt? HIPAA Laws May Mean You Won’t.
A Little Peace of Mind Goes a Long Way. You’ve tried to prepare them in every way you can for college, but how can you make sure your children will be protected when you’re not around? Are they prepared for a medical emergency? It’s hard to believe, but privacy laws…
Read MoreUse Your Will to Dictate How to Pay Your Debts
The main purpose of a will is to direct where your assets will go after you die, but it can also be used to instruct your heirs how to pay your debts. While generally heirs cannot inherit debt, debt can reduce what they receive. Spelling out how debt should be…
Read MoreHow the Elderly Lose Their Rights!
Guardians can sell the assets and control the lives of senior citizens without their consent – and reap a profit from it. Everyone must read this great article from the October 9, 2017 issue of the New Yorker by Rachel Aviv. – Click Here for New Yorker Article
Read MoreNursing Home Costs Rise Sharply in 2017
The median cost of a private nursing home room in the United States has increased to $97,455 a year, up 5.5 percent from 2016, according to Genworth’s 2017 Cost of Care survey, which the insurer conducts annually. Genworth reports that the median cost of a semi-private room in a nursing…
Read MoreNow Is the Time to Review Your Medicare Options
Are you happy with your current Medicare plan or plans? Now is the time to think about whether you are in the right plan or whether a new plan could save you money. Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period, in which you can enroll in or switch plans, runs from October 15…
Read MoreHow to Reverse Medicare Surcharges When Your Income Changes
What happens if you are a high-income Medicare beneficiary who is paying a surcharge on your premiums and then your income changes? If your circumstances change, you can reverse those surcharges. Higher-income Medicare beneficiaries (individuals who earn more than $85,000) pay higher Part B and prescription drug benefit premiums than…
Read MoreDigital Assets Raise Estate Planning Questions
More and more, we are conducting our business on the Internet, whether that’s online banking, shopping at Amazon and other sites, uploading documents and files to the “cloud,” posting videos on YouTube, or communicating with high school classmates via Facebook. So, what happens to all of our accounts and files…
Read MoreFour Provisions People Forget to Include in Their Estate Plan
Even if you’ve created an estate plan, are you sure you included everything you need to? There are certain provisions that people often forget to put in in a will or estate plan that can have a big impact on your family. Alternate Beneficiaries One of the most important things…
Read More