http://familylegacylawyer.com Keeping you in control Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:44:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Have you checked your will lately--or your spouse's? If not, there may be a trap lurking in the language that could cause an unintended calamity after death.   That's according to the Wall Street Journal. Here's why. Since 2001 the federal estate tax exemption has stepped up from $675,000 to its current ... http://familylegacylawyer.com/is-there-a-trap-lurking-in-the-language-of-your-will I was reading the Wall Street Journal today and came across an article I thought was important and timely, so I decided to share it with everybody.  It discusses the absolute necessity of having an Advance Medical Directive in place as part of a well structured estate plan.  You need to ... http://familylegacylawyer.com/what-are-you-waiting-for-advanced-medical-directives Simply stated, your estate is the value of all the assets you own when you die.   And of course for decades now, the U.S. Government has been levying a tax on those assets.  This year, the U.S. Congress has been discussing the revision of the Federal Estate Tax as part ... http://familylegacylawyer.com/congress-and-the-federal-estate-tax If you can afford to live without it, you might consider delaying your receipt of Social Security Benefits for a few years.  Some Social Security recipients can voluntarily suspend their benefits beyond the so-called full retirement age of 66. This is referred to as "claim and suspend." Here's how it ... http://familylegacylawyer.com/social-security-benefits-stratagies Estate planning is about a lot of different things.  It is about your lifetime of hard work.  It is about protecting what you have accumulated over the years so that you control who gets your assets after you are gone.  But in simplest terms, estate planning is about protecting your personal liberty ... http://familylegacylawyer.com/hello-world