Did you know that October 17-October 23, 2022 is National Estate Planning Week? National Estate Planning Week was established in 2008, in an effort to highlight the importance of having an updated estate plan.
It is widely estimated that up to 60% of Americans do not have a Will. As an attorney who focuses primarily
Several years ago, I wrote a blog article about the three estate planning documents every person should have. Fast forward to today, and my recommendation has not changed. Every person over the age of eighteen should have a Will, a Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will, and a Financial Power of Attorney.
It is important to have all three documents because they each do different things and are effective at different times. But how often do you really need to update them? And can’t the internet write most of these for you anyway? Let’s take a closer look.
Continue Reading Updating Your Estate Planning Documents for a Digital World
2020 has been a year of adapting, readapting, and then adapting again in an effort to combat a global pandemic. Those in education have been hit particularly hard. Most educators and administrators have had to develop multiple contingency plans, often with little warning.
The Lancaster Bar Association is concerned about the impact these unprecedented times are having on educators and the increased responsibilities they have been taking on. Our teachers and administrators are putting themselves at risk daily to ensure the children of our community continue to get the education they need. Some, like Manheim Township counselor Alexandra Chitwood, have even lost their lives.
Continue Reading Lancaster Bar Association is Offering Classroom Heroes Free Living Wills
As we enter another month of the Covid-19 pandemic, the stories of people becoming gravely ill without a Healthcare Power of Attorney and Living Will continue to mount. Recently, a doctor on a Covid-19 unit shared a story about a young man who required a ventilator to breathe. He never expressed to his family what his wishes would be in this situation, leaving them to guess.
To further complicate matters, his parents did not agree on a course of action for their son. It added strife and stress to an already unimaginably hard situation. This particular stress could have been avoided if the young man had a Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will.
Continue Reading What is a Living Will, and Why do I Need One?
So you made the jump and finally decided to go paperless on all of your billing and banking! Think of all the space and trees you will save eliminating that excess paper from your daily life. But what happens if you can no longer access those accounts?
I don’t mean what happens if you lose
When I am preparing a client’s living will, it is by far the most common choice for them to indicate that they desire no extraordinary measures. One of the extraordinary measures specifically spelled out in a living will is mechanical ventilation.
But what if you need a ventilator for a COVID-19-related hospitalization?
The March 16, 2020 declaration of a statewide judicial emergency has dramatically reduced the functions of the Lancaster County Courthouse. This declaration has also closed the Lancaster County Register of Wills, effectively halted the probating of any wills in Lancaster County. Consequently, all estates requiring probate have been in a holding pattern.
For more information
On April 10, 2020, the IRS further extended filing deadlines and payment obligation due dates for federal tax returns. They have extended this change to any person who has a tax obligation due on or after April 1, 2020 and before July 15, 2020.
Conveniently,
George has dementia and is no longer able to make medical decisions for himself. Physically, George is fairly healthy, but has developed some heart issues that would benefit from a pacemaker. Prior to developing dementia, George appointed his niece Amanda to be his Health Care Agent and drafted a Living Will, wherein he stated he did not want any heroic measure in the event he was in an end-stage of a terminal illness. George told Amanda “I don’t want to be hooked up to all those machines. Just let me die!” But that was the extent of their conversation. Amanda was close to George when she was younger, but didn’t have a chance to see him too often in recent years. Now she needs to decide whether Uncle George should receive the pacemaker, which would probably prolong his life. But would he want to prolong his life given his advanced dementia?
One of my memories from childhood is watching my mother build and run her own business. I saw first hand how she lived the job, how seriously she took her responsibilities to her customers and employees, and how she never really stopped thinking about work. It was what she had to do to make the business successful. At the time, I didn’t always enjoy sitting at dinner and listening to my parents discuss the store finances or how to deal with a problem employee; however, I now realize that I was learning by just listening and it has helped inform my approach to working with small business owners and understanding what it takes to establish and maintain a successful business. I know how hard small business owners work. There can be so much focus on building the business and running it day to day that people often forget to address what happens when they no longer want to keep it going or can no longer work at the same pace. I don’t mean what happens when a business fails. What happens when a business succeeds? How do you transition it to the next owner? How do you protect the legacy you’ve worked hard to build?
Continue Reading What happens when a business succeeds? Estate planning for business owners.