President Obama, in his Presidential Proclamation of National Family Caregivers Month – November 2011 – states;

“Across our country, millions of family members, neighbors, and friends provide care and support for their loved ones during times of need.  With profound compassion and selflessness, these caregivers sustain American men, women, and children at their most vulnerable moments, and through their devoted acts, they exemplify the best of the American spirit.”

Statistics from the Administration On Aging show that the population 65 and older is expected to grow from its current 13%  to 19% of the total population by 2030.  With the older population increasing, the need for elder caregiving will continue to increase.  Family caregivers play a vital role in filling these caregiving needs.  Who better than family can understand the needs and ensure the best care of their loved ones….read the entire article by going to the link below

Please go to the following URL for the entire article and previous articles: Either click on the link   http://www.planforcare.org or copy and paste the following into your browser:      http://www.planforcare.org

It’s all over the news lately that Prince William and his fiancé Kate Middleton will likely not sign a prenuptial agreement before the royal wedding on April 29^th. Although many reasons have been given as to why the couple will forgo signing a prenup, one of the reasons is that “while prenuptial agreements are common in the United States, they are far less prevalent in the UK. Only in the last year have British courts agreed to recognize such deals.” This is a statement that has some Americans asking exactly how legally binding are prenuptial agreements here in the States?

The answer to that question depends on a number of factors: your state of residence, the terms of your prenuptial agreement, how long you stay married, and more. Fortunately, the longer prenuptial agreements are around, and the more common they become, the more respect they get from the courts. But if you’re worried that your prenuptial agreement won’t hold up in court, here are few tips to help ensure the validity of your agreement.

Neither party must be signing under duress. The more time each party has to review the agreement before the wedding the better. Any prenuptial agreement signed the day of or the day before the wedding could be looked upon as being signed under duress.

The agreement should include full disclosure of income and assets. If you live in a state where it is possible to waive full disclosure of assets then BOTH parties should specify that they do so knowingly.

Each party should have their own legal representation. In order to be sure that neither party is being taken advantage of, each party should have their own independent attorney review the document before it is signed.

Details regarding children or child support in a prenuptial agreement may not be enforced by most courts. Partners my want to include details about possible custody or child support arrangements in a prenuptial agreement, but keep in mind that any court will always give the best interests of a child the highest priority, even if it means disregarding those sections of the agreement between spouses.

Of course, every couple hopes that a prenuptial agreement will never come into play, but these tips can help ensure that your agreement will be considered valid by a court if the worst should happen. Contact our office if you have any questions about prenuptial or marital agreements, we’d like to help.

We write a lot on this blog about what estate planning is truly about: it’s about laws, taxes, assets, and documents of course; but deep down, estate planning is about relationships.

As estate planners and advisors, an important part of what we do is creating the best estate planning or asset protection vehicle we can for our clients; but achieving this goal involves far more than simply writing a document—it also involves listening to our clients, reading between the lines of sensitive family interactions, and it often involves looking into the future to catch potential problems before they happen.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal describes the unorthodox lengths to which advisors will go to help clients achieve their goals. “For the family with the gridlocked siblings, [their financial advisor] arranged a session of personality-type charting with an outside expert. The tests showed one of the brothers-in-conflict to be a hard-driver who loved to make decisions on the fly. His brother was more analytical, and needed time to reach conclusions… Establishing that these conflicting traits are permanent characteristics has helped the brothers understand each other’s work habits and function better as a team. “

Our firm may not yet have had to arrange personality-type charting sessions, but this “running interference” or acting as a mediator and guide is exactly what we do. Evaluating goals, assessing relationships, identifying priorities and facilitating productive discussions is part and parcel of being a good estate planner and a great family attorney and advisor.

Estate planning and asset protection may sound like it’s about things and wealth, but a good advisor knows that it is always about family and relationships. Consider this when you’re looking for an estate planner: Do you want an advisor who is simply protecting your wealth, or do you want an advisor who is looking out for your future and your family?

It is common knowledge that 2010 is a great year for heirs. If you didn’t know about the 2010 estate tax repeal, all the media coverage of George Steinbrenner’s recent death (and his heirs’ lucky tax break) probably alerted you. Everybody is saying that 2010 is a good year to die… But what about those of us who plan to live through 2010?

According to the New York Times even hale and hearty individuals can save on their taxes in 2010—it just takes a little more planning. “A bigger issue [than the estate tax]… has become the gift tax, which is linked to the estate tax to prevent people from giving away their fortune in life to avoid taxes at death. It now stands at 35 percent, the lowest rate since the 1930s.” The gift tax is a tax on money or property that you give to another individual while you are still living. Currently an individual may give up to $13,000 per year (or up to $26,000 if you give as a married couple) without incurring gift tax.

If you’re a wealthy parent or grandparent trying to decrease your taxable estate through gift-giving, this is the year to do it for a number of reasons. First, of course, is the historically low 35% gift tax rate. Second, “in addition to the historically low rate, another reason to make sizable gifts this year is that the values of many assets are still depressed. Long-held stocks, real estate and shares in private businesses could all increase in value, and giving them away now will allow them to appreciate with your heirs and not in your estate.” A final reason to consider giving your large gifts before the year is over is that the 35% rate won’t last forever; the gift tax is expected to rise to 55% next year.

How can you take advantage of this lucky confluence of events? Well, as always when you’re dealing with large sums of money (not to mention dealing with the IRS), you’ll want to be careful. We do NOT recommend that you simply write a check for $13,000+. Contact your estate planner or your financial planner to find out how you can safely reduce your taxable estate while giving security to the people you love.