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Jason A. Stuart

Laura Elkins

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Research the Archives

• August 2009

  • Unique Estate and Financial Challenges for Women
    Women face unique Life and Estate Planning Issues, and yet too often their own needs are overlooked. They are too busy taking care of everyone else -- their families, their careers, parents, social causes.

  • Daughter Syndrome
    On page three we examine the Daughter Syndrome. After a woman rears her children and cares for her parents, in-laws and husband … who is there for her? These days it is prudent to have a plan to care for the caregiver, given our mobile society.

• September 2009

  • Estate Planning Challenges for Blended Families
    Is your family a blended family? If so, then you face unique inheritance challenges, to include disinheriting your ex-spouse, providing for your new spouse and your own children, and protecting their inheritance.

  • Estate Equalization
    Equalizing an estate among members of blended families is particularly challenging. Among the issues to be considered when doing estate equalization planning are how to avoid disinheriting your new spouse while still providing for any children from a prior marriage. Insurance premiums and legal fees are cheap compared to the costs of disinheritance.

• October 2009

  • Admirable Estate Administration
    Have you appointed trusted family members, friends or professionals to serve as the fiduciaries of your estate plan upon your death? If so, our lead article is a must-read as we review some of the responsibilities (and liabilities) they will face.

  • Treasure Hunt: Asset Inventory
    Every youngster, at one time or another, dreams of going on a treasure hunt. However, the fiduciaries of your estate will not find inventorying your assets to be nearly as exciting. In this article we provide tips for making the job easier (and less expensive) for your trusted fiduciaries

• November 2009

  • Seasonal Solutions: The Stages of Life & Estate Planning
    To everything there is a season. So it is with your Life & Estate Plan. This article uses a Seasons of Life theme to illustrate how your Life & Estate Plan may change with your personal and financial circumstances over your lifetime.

  • The Three P's of Proper Estate Planning
    Here we review the process of organizing your legal affairs as they pertains to your estate planning documents. As you will see, it is simply a matter of identifying your Three P’s and properly implementing your estate plans.

• December 2009

  • Procrastination & Estate Planning
    Why doesn’t everyone have their final affairs in order, especially in light of the likelihood of incapacity and the certainty of death? This article takes aim at the chief culprit: procrastination.

  • Finding Fiduciaries
    In this article we consider the critical process of selecting and appointing appropriate fiduciaries to handle your financial affairs when you cannot. In fact, this is one of the first (and most important) planning decisions you must make.

• January 2010
  • Business Owners Beware
    The survival rate of family businesses from generation to generation is rather dismal. To help prevent your business from becoming an unfortunate statistic tomorrow, we review some common challenges for you to address today (before it is too late).
  • Buy-Sell Financing
    One fundamental key to the survival of a family business is a properly funded Buy-Sell Agreement (BSA). In this article we consider three basic BSA flavors and the means available to finance their terms when triggered.
     
• February 2010
  • Five Common Estate Planning Mistakes
    Proper estate planning is not just for the rich and famous. Surprisingly, however, that is a common misconception. Every adult American has an estate worth planning, regardless of their net worth. In this article we review some critical estate planning concerns.
  • Family Feuds
    This article considers the subject of Family Feuds resulting from an inheritance, or lack thereof. Your family may not resemble the Hatfields and the McCoys, but family disharmony can be avoided through proper estate planning (and communication).
     
• March 2010
  • Lifetime Gifting: Part of Your Multi-Generation Estate Planning
    Would you prefer to transfer more wealth to your family instead of the IRS? Our lead article summarizes the relevant lifetime gifting rules and considers two common do-it-yourself transfer methods.
  • Crummey Trusts
    Here, we investigate how lifetime gifting to a Crummey Trust may help reveal the financial maturity level of your loved ones now, so you may make proper plans for them later.
     
• April 2010
  • Family Limited Partnerships
    Family Limited Partnerships offer many benefits, both tax and non-tax. Our lead article is a primer that explores why they are at once a taxpayer favorite and a favorite target of the IRS and some courts.
     
  • Asset Protection
    In this article we examine three strategies for protecting your hard-earned wealth: exempting your assets, limiting your liability, and transferring your risk. This article will inspire you to take specific actions today to protect your wealth tomorrow.
     

• May 2010

  • Facing Facts About Death and Taxes
    It can be difficult to ponder our own mortality. That is just our human nature. Nevertheless, the clock is ticking for each of us. Our lead article highlights some critical issues we all need to address while there is still time to make proper financial and legal plans.
     
  • Writing Lasting Letters to Your Heirs
    In this article we we encourage you to consider lasting letters as a means to enrich relationships with your loved ones. Since letter writing has become a lost art, the mere fact that you make the effort will be remarkable.
     

• June 2010

  • Educating Young Adults About Estate Planning
    By and large, Americans are a rather independent lot. This month's article reviews some fundamental threats to our personal independence in the context of estate planning for young adult Americans. You will want to share this article with the young adults in your life.
     
  • Carrots & Sticks: Protecting Your Inheritance
    Here we consider a Carrots & Sticks approach to inheritance planning. To protect your heirs from catching a bad case of Affluenza, you may want to learn how proper estate planning can protect a hard-earned inheritance both from them and for them before it is too late.
     

• July 2010

  • Majoring in Minor Children
    Most Parents expend considerable time and treasure to provide for their minor children. But not all parents live to see their children enter adulthood. Our lead article reviews key considerations to provide for your children in a world without you.
     
  • Leveraging Legacies with a Section 529 Plan
    Here we survey tax-savvy lifetime gifting strategies to leverage legacies to minor children, with some surprising control retained by the donor. [Hint: You might want to share this article with their grandparents!]