The costs of long-term care for older adults can be significant. Federal Medicare health insurance benefits do not cover most of these costs. Most people who incur costs for long-term care cover them with a combination of personal savings, long-term care insurance and Medicaid, among other sources.
A TOD account allows the account holder to name a beneficiary on a non-retirement financial account to receive assets at the time of the account holder’s death, thereby (generally – i.e., when used correctly) avoiding probate.
Even those who have saved and invested well may not be sharing their financial information with a spouse or loved one. It’s time to do that now.
Picture this…your child is in the hospital, but the on-call doctor won’t talk to you let alone allow you to weigh in on medical decisions. While hospitalized, your child’s bills are going unpaid because you can’t access their accounts—potentially wreaking havoc on their financial credit. Why? Because they’re over the age of 18.
One of the biggest conundrums of estate planning is considering how, or even if, you can give money or property to your heirs in a manner that will help them.
About 1.5 million Americans become widows and widowers in a normal year, but the pandemic has boosted that significantly. The National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University estimates that about 380,000 of more than 700,000 people in the U.S. who have died from Covid were married.
Major changes in your life—such as marriage, having a baby, moving out of state, or divorce—should prompt a revisit to your current will. It is important to revise your will at these times, in order to ensure that your estate planning is up to date.
Inherited assets come with benefits, along with some burdens
No one relishes the thought of the day they pass away and leave all their worldly possessions behind. However, it’s a certainty that no one can avoid. Thankfully, you have options for planning for what happens to your estate, including a will or a family trust.
Individuals buying a home, adopting a child, completing estate planning documents, such as wills and advanced health care directives, or completing any number of legal procedures may find themselves in need of a notary.
