The death of Elizabeth Taylor made a lot of news in March. Apart from the stories that recapped her film career, her eight marriages, and her substantial charity work, there were numerous reports that her family honored an unusual request she made prior to her death. Taylor requested that her funeral start fifteen minutes late. She also asked that someone at the funeral announce that “she even wanted to be late to her own funeral.”...

Special needs trusts are important estate planning tools for families with relatives who have disabilities. Also called a “supplemental needs trust,” a special needs trust allows someone to leave money to a trustee who holds property for the benefit of a disabled individual. This kind of trust can also be included in the Will of a person wishing to leave money to a disabled relative. Special needs trusts are important because they...

After a a person dies, dealing with his or her assets and finances is often the last thing on friends’ and family members’ minds. However, someone must handle those issues, and in Pennsylvania, either an executor (if there is a Will) or an administrator (if there is no Will) must be appointed by the Register of Wills in the county where the deceased person last lived to deal with their assets. If the deceased person left a Will, the...

Clients often ask me how they can leave specific items of jewelry, art, furniture, or other valuable personal belongings to family members and friends. Although these items can be given to specific individuals in your Will, you would probably need an attorney’s assistance to make changes to those bequests, since a Will and any changes to Wills (also known as codicils) should be witnessed and signed in front of a notary.  A...

Many people wonder if it is really necessary to make a Will. Married couples often assume that if they die intestate (without a Will), whatever assets they own will go to their spouse. This is true for most property that is jointly owned with a spouse and any property that passes by beneficiary designation (typically retirement accounts and life insurance) where the spouse is named as beneficiary. However, all other assets—usually...

Most people think that once they get their Wills done, they don’t have to worry about their estate plan anymore.  But so much of estate planning depends on coordinating the titling and beneficiary designations of individual assets with your Will and other estate planning documents.  A recent New York Times article does an excellent job of summarizing some issues that can arise: A Will only controls how your “probate” assets are...

Congress has finally approved legislation regarding the federal estate tax, and President Obama signed it into law last week.   The legislation, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, relieves many people of the concern that their estates may be subject to federal estate tax in 2011.  The estate tax, which was repealed in 2010, was set to come back in 2011 with an exemption of only $1...

I will be teaching two seminars on estate planning in the next few months: December 7, 2010, 12 p.m.-1:30 p.m.: Estate Planning for 2011 and Beyond: Preparing for the Return of the Federal Estate Tax Cost: Free. Lunch will be provided. Location: Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Liberty One, 1650 Market Street-42nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19103 RSVP: (215) 854-6051 or pari.hashemi@mssb.com. Approval for 1 hour of CLE credit is pending....

I attended a very informative pro bono training course this morning for the SeniorLaw Center’s SeniorLaw helpline and wanted to share some information about this very valuable resource. This helpline is available to all Pennsylvania Seniors (defined as anyone over the age of 60), and allows individuals to consult with an attorney over the telephone and receive brief legal advice or a referral to another organization that can...

Often people will pass away with debts–outstanding credit card bills, utility bills, mortgages, or other loans.  Usually the deceased person’s assets will be used to pay the debts during the probate process, but there are also many cases where a person dies without enough assets to pay off all of his or her debts.  All too often creditors will try to convince the deceased’s relatives that they should take on...