The Plain English Attorney Blog
Far too many attorneys overcomplicate things, making topics convoluted and difficult to understand to the average person. This blog is committed to explaining legal planning topics in an easy to understand format, in plain English. Enjoy the blogs, and please let us know if there is a topic you would like covered.
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A basic question I get all the time is "what's the difference between revocable and irrevocable trusts?" What my clients are getting at is wondering whether or not their plan needs to be based in a trust that is completely amendable or one that is set in stone from the start.
Too often,...
There is one, big lie about probate that financial companies tell their clients all of the time. Unfortunately, many of the professionals at these banks and institutions have no idea that they are telling this lie or how disastrous it actually is to their client’s estate and family.
The lie...
Most estate plans are exposed to risks should a child’s marriage fall apart after receiving an inheritance. In this video clip taken from a longer webinar, I review the potential risks of leaving a direct inheritance to adult children.
What’s better in planning for a beneficiary with Special Needs? ABLE Accounts or Special Needs Trusts? Or is a Revocable Living Trust better? In this special presentation made to Raleigh charity Gabi’s Grounds, Jeff reviews different special needs planning tools for different jobs and...
Our office has a new mascot with a very conspicuous place in the conference room. We now have an “800-Pound Gorilla in the Room” sitting at the foot of the conference room table, and it’s there for a particular purpose. It’s actually a merging of two expressions:
- ...
I was recently asked to spell out the basic things that every senior should have in place, and I came up with eight specific items. While there are certainly more, this is a broad list of the most important legal and practical items.
- Have Estate Document In Place: There are actually several...
Estate Planning can be a complicated area of law to navigate if you don’t do it every day, but it shouldn’t be overly complicated on your part. This becomes important all of the time but especially this time of year when people are trying to check “estate planning”...
One of the great pleasures I get in my profession is being able to share important information with groups of people who can benefit from the knowledge. Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Carolina Arbors Veterans Club along with VA Accredited Claims Agent David Cole. Here is the...
This is a question that comes up all the time. "My neighbor's cousin's barista's parents gifted their house to their kids to qualify for Medicaid, and it worked!" However, there are lots of risks and downsides of gifting the house to the kids without a solid, thought out plan. Check out the video...
I have many posts and videos discussing how my grandmother, my father's mother dealt with probate. I haven't told the story nearly as much of how my mother's mother dealt with dementia and the role it played in me becoming a Certified Medicaid Planner (TM). This video gives the brief story. ...
Sometimes, getting a pile of money can do more harm than good. The younger a gift recipient is, the greater the risk the money is wasted, or, even worse, the money is spent on drugs or to facilitate bad life choices. Unfortunately, the top three gifting options people choose for younger...
Sometimes, an attorney knowing a lot and then showing it off in the plans they create is not a good thing. Years ago, I had an uncle/trustee bring in his nephew with special needs to review the advice he was getting from the attorney who created an estate plan for his sister and brother-in-law....
