Are Any of These 11 Mistakes Lurking in Your Estate Plan?

1) Lack of Healthcare and Disability Planning. The majority of deaths occur in hospitals or other institutions. Patients may be incapacitated to the point where they can no longer communicate their healthcare wishes. Advance Directives and a Healthcare Power of Attorney can identify healthcare proxy decision-makers, specify wishes for end-of-life care, and provide...

Continue reading…

Warning: Don’t Let Creditors Inherit from You

Shocking to most people, the retirement account you leave for your spouse can be seized in a divorce, lawsuit, or bankruptcy.

 

3 Options Available To Surviving Spouses

When your surviving spouse inherits your IRA, he or she generally has three options:

 

Cash out the inherited IRA and pay the income tax.

WARNING! The...

Continue reading…

Roth IRA Conversions After Tax Reform…Still a good idea? What are the implications for your family if you don’t spend all the money?

Twenty years ago, the Roth IRA first became available to investors as a financial tool for their estate planning needs. These accounts have maintained their popularity because unlike their traditional IRA counterpart, a Roth IRA provides account owners tax-free income during retirement.

In fact, many people chose to convert...

Continue reading…

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Inherited IRAs are Not Protected from Creditors

On June 12, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court—in a unanimous decision—ruled that Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) inherited by anyone other than a spouse are not retirement funds and therefore are not protected from the beneficiary’s creditors in bankruptcy.

The reasoning is, because the beneficiary cannot make additional contributions or delay distributions until retirement, it...

Continue reading…