Google’s Interactive Account Manager

Jamie Held
April 18, 2013

The question of what happens to a person’s digital property after death is a hot topic these days. Many online service providers are currently grappling with this issue, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and the list goes on.

What To Do & Ask When Seeking A Professional Advisor

Jennifer Santini
March 19, 2013

Anytime you are looking to hire a professional advisor (which for purposes of this article shall include, but is not limited to, a financial advisor, attorney, insurance agent, banker and/or accountant), you should do some preliminary homework to determine the type of person with whom you would like to work and prepare some questions to […]

Guns N’ Trusts

Kevin Rockwell
February 20, 2013

If Congress ultimately expands gun legislation, then it could have a profound impact on an individual’s ability to transfer guns to their beneficiaries. Bequeathing a gun in an estate is very different from passing on other personal property. Because a gun is a regulated piece of personal property at both the federal and state levels, […]

The handy dandy super easy estate planning checklist

Maggie Green
January 17, 2013

Make this your new year’s resolution. Or don’t. Either way, these six things should give you peace of mind that your family and friends will not struggle through the probate process. 1. Make a list of your stuff Create a simple list of your assets with corresponding values – use a ballpark value if you don’t […]

Long Term Care: Are You Prepared?

Mike Westling
November 5, 2012

One of the main goals at Epilawg is to help you plan your own epilogue to your life. Many of the posts here discuss passing on what you’ve accumulated during your lifetime to your loved ones. However, what if everything you accumulated throughout your life is lost because of your health? Because you did not […]

Technology Outpaces the Law – Assisted Reproduction

Jamie Held
June 25, 2012

Historically, determining a decedent’s heirs was easy – determine all of the decedent’s living family members on the date of decedent’s death and if decedent’s wife was pregnant on the date of his death, wait to see if the child is born alive. Now, however, science has provided us with the ability to freeze genetic […]

Economic Update

J.B. L'Esperance
May 9, 2012

Our good fortune has continued with expanded growth in the markets. This is typical of an election year and if history is any indication, there should be more of this to come. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up over 13,000 and the NASDAQ Composite has reached a new high as well (much of this […]

Are Equal Shares in Estate Plans Always Appropriate?

Bobbi Dahlstrom
April 23, 2012

I have helped many people draft their estate plan documents and most have been traditional in the sense that they want to be “fair” to their descendants. If there is a spouse all goes to them, next to their kids in equal shares. Further, the testator (persons for whom the estate plan has been drafted) […]

Arresting Motion: Estate Planning for Artists

Christi Cottrell
February 29, 2012

Part II: Why? Framing the Issue. “Art is a nation’s most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves and to others the inner vision which guides us as a nation. And where there is no vision, the people perish.” ~Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Arts & Humanities […]

Upon the death of a business owning spouse

Maggie Green
January 7, 2012

Below is an illustration (a fictitious one) with three things to consider upon the death of a spouse who owns a business. Henry and Wendy celebrated their 30th anniversary last summer with their two children and three grandchildren. At the time of her death in November 2011, Wendy owned an increasingly successful retail business. Henry […]