Category Archives: Wills & Estates
Blended Families: The Not-So-Simple Estate Plan
Blended families, or families that consist of a couple and their children from this and/or previous relationships, may not realize the estate plan they currently have in place doesn’t fit their needs. It is common that blended families will arrange their finances as if their estate is your average estate plan when, in fact,… Read More »
Owning A Joint Checking Account With Your Child: A Road to Responsibility or A Road to Disaster?
It is imperative that you weigh the pros and cons before opening a joint account with your child. Particularly, you must analyze your situation and your reasons for doing so. You will find that for many of these reasons there may be other options that do not change ownership but still carry out your… Read More »
Death of a Loved One: Practical and Legal Guidance
Dealing with the death of a loved one both before and after death are the two most difficult situations in our lives. In addition to the emotional toll, there are also innumerable details, practical and legal, surrounding a loved one’s death. Most people are not aware of the steps that need to be taken… Read More »
The Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order Has Been Replaced With the New and Improved MOLST Form in Maryland
When it comes to protecting your loved ones, we encourage you to have an Advance Directive (See Get an Advance Directive: Don’t Be a Headline; Should I get an Advance Directive, a Living Will or a Health Care Power of Attorney?). Having an Advance Directive is effective in explaining your wishes and giving someone… Read More »
Preparing for a Grand Exit
Are you a small business owner? If so, you may love your job so much, that retirement, death, or incapacity are the furthest thoughts from your mind. While you may not intend to exit the business in the near future, have you considered the possibility of what might happen if you have to unexpectedly… Read More »
The End of the 12 Year Maryland Estate Tax Experiment
The Maryland legislative session of 2014 began with a bang. Specifically, the House introduced HB 739 that presumably could cause major changes to the way you and I plan for the inevitable. Yesterday, the Maryland Senate approved Maryland State HouseHB 739 that will recouple the Maryland estate tax exclusion with that of the federal… Read More »
Preparing For the Death of a Loved One: 7 Practical Recommendations
This is not an easy time and, emotionally, there is not much that your lawyer can do to help. What we can to is to assist you in understanding some of the practical issues involved. Below we describe seven recommendations of things to do before your loved one passes. At a minimum, this list… Read More »
5 Things to Understand About Maryland’s Inheritance Tax
1. It’s All About Who Inherits Maryland has both an estate tax and inheritance tax. The estate tax is assessable if more than one million dollars passes at death. The total dollar value of the property determines whether there is an estate tax. The inheritance tax is not dependent upon the value of the… Read More »
Transfers to Minors: Where Do I Start? What Should I Consider?
Two of the most commonly used methods of transferring money and assets to minors are a Uniform Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA) Account or a Trust. Baby in Suitcase with Money A UTMA Account is relatively simple to create and fairly inexpensive, but you cannot exercise any control over the assets. While a trust… Read More »
How Does the New Fiscal Cliff Legislation Affect my Estate Tax Planning?
On January 2, 2013 the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was enacted, avoiding the so-called “fiscal cliff.” In addition to income tax changes, the law contained provisions on estate taxes which certainly did avoid something very cliff-like. Had the law not been enacted, the federal estate tax exemption would have reverted to $1… Read More »