As a father, you've always strived to provide the best for your family, ensuring their well-being and securing their future. However, even the most well-intentioned plans can fail if you overlook the complexities of estate planning.

Did you know that May is Older Americans Awareness Month? This makes May the perfect month to talk about securing a comfortable retirement. See, retirement is more than just an end to the working years. It’s an exciting new phase of life that requires thoughtful preparation and strategic planning. May is the perfect opportunity to explore how to secure your retirement and the 10 essential steps to take now to ensure a comfortable and fulfilling retirement. In this article, we’ll discuss the first 5 steps, why they’re important, and how to implement them. Next week, we’ll continue with the remaining 5 steps. 

As dementia progresses, estate planning must become more proactive and strategic than ever to avoid court and conflict over your loved one’s wishes in the future. If dementia becomes too advanced before planning is complete, the question of who will manage your loved one’s assets and care will be left to a judge who doesn’t know your loved one or their wishes.

Caring for a loved one with dementia is a challenge that millions of families undertake each year. As a caregiver, understanding how a dementia diagnosis affects your loved one’s legal decision-making

Are you in the “sandwich generation” (someone who is caring for both your children as well as your parents simultaneously)? If this is you, then you need to know whether or not your parents have an estate plan. So, ask yourself, “do your parents have an estate plan?”

If you are like most people, you probably do not know. And, the thought of speaking with your parents about their finances and estate planning probably makes you want to run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. Nonetheless, having this conversation is the key to helping make sure your parents are able to live their golden years without financial worries and that their wishes are carried out after their death.

Our parents age and their physical and mental capacities diminish.  We, as their adult children recognize our parents’ decreasing ability to care for themselves.  We see that we need to step in and help them. Often, one of us children will take over the bulk of the responsibilities such as taking the parent to doctor’s appointments or the attorney’s office. We see our parent begin to depend on thatchild more and more.  So, our parent decides to appoint that child as a trusted decision maker.  Our parent may even give them a larger inheritance to compensate them for their time. At the same time, the other childre must take extreme care to ensure that our elderly parent is not being exploited by a manipulative caretaker.   We need to ask ourselves, is our sibling caretake being a dutiful child or a financial manipulator?

Estate Planning and Elder Law go hand in hand. While Estate Planning deals with what happens when you die; elder law deals with what happens as you age and /or become disabled.

The steep costs associated with long-term care have made Medicaid planning a growing trend for middle-class Americans. Legally restructuring financial resources helps people qualify before the need for care arises.

Comparing elder law and estate planning - what’s the difference? Estate planning and elder law play different roles, while sharing some common ground. Despite these distinctions, both are crucial for safeguarding both you and your loved ones. While they often intersect, there are some nuances to consider.

Elder law and estate planning are two concepts that are commonly confused. Nevertheless, these areas of law differ in important ways. Although there may be some overlap between them, it is essential to understand and utilize strategies from both fields to ensure a prosperous aging process and safeguard a family's heritage.  So, dive in and learn what is life care planning and why you need it.

Yes, you can save money by using do it yourself on-line forms to create your legal documents. But, should you? If you are not a lawyer, preparing do it yourself legal documents can be very costly when the time comes for those documents to be used. So, beware of on-line legal documents.