Hawkins Elder Law discusses whether and to what extent you should break the news about your estate plan to your family.

Hawkins Elder Law provides an overview of second marriage issues in Indiana and how to manage them with marital trusts.

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] We have heard people tell us for decades that they want to “avoid probate.” They say it as if they want to avoid cancer. Most people have no idea what it is that they think they should avoid. Fewer people know that the “probate” concept […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Too people say about estate planning, “I’m not ready for that yet.” A person must be able to think clearly enough to make a will, trust, power of attorney, deed, health care directive or other estate plan document. As we wrote in our blog article, […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] If a person has made a will, a power of attorney, an advance health care directive, or a trust, the person may think that those documents create a dependable estate plan. Unfortunately, many people do not realize that an estate plan includes every kind of […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] We have written more than once in our blog about the need for people to update their estate plans regularly. We get questions from people sometimes about whether the law really changes enough to justify estate plan updates. This week, we answer that question with […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] They say that the road to destruction is paved with good intentions. The saying fits procrastinators that intend to make or update estate plans involving turbulent families, but never get around to making updated plans. An estate plan procrastinator can create even more destruction by […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Did you ever pick up a button that fell off a shirt or a screw that fell out of a piece of furniture, store it in a place that you are sure you would never forget, and later forget the location of that fool-proof storage? […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Think for a moment about what “last will and testament” means to you. Maybe the term reminds you of a movie with a widow dressed in black, perhaps wearing a black veil. You may think about a deceased person’s family gathered at a lawyer’s office […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Entrusting inheritance to family members requires some thought about how family members will manage the money. You’ve worked hard for your money and a poor steward can blow it in no time. Relatively simple planning can help build and protect a financial legacy for future […]