Planning with Retirement Plans, Annuities, and Life Insurance

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Hawkins Elder Law.

Retirement plans, annuities, and life insurance policies are great tools to accumulate and protect wealth for some people. However, all investments require some attention to details regarding beneficiary designations and ownership choices. None of these tools fits everyone and some tools can be inappropriate for some people. A knowledgeable estate planning attorney uses these financial […]

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Joint Bank Accounts & Other Property Transfers To Survivors – Part 2

Posted on April 18, 2015 by Hawkins Elder Law.

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] This article concludes a two-part series of about joint bank accounts and other kinds of asset co-ownership (click here to read Part 1). Joint Accounts – Name Sequence Some people mistakenly think that it makes a difference whether someone’s name appears first or second on […]

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Joint Bank Accounts & Other Property Transfers To Survivors – Part 1

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Hawkins Elder Law.

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] This article is the first part of a two-part series of about joint bank accounts and other kinds of ownership of bank accounts and investments (Click here to read Part 2). We have seen many avoidable cases of error, fraud, and abuse over the years. […]

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Scavenger Hunt – Finding Stuff After Someone’s Death or Health Crisis

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Hawkins Elder Law.

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Managing someone else’s business when they die or become disabled can take you on a scavenger hunt. You may not know what you need to find or where to find it. To make a tough job worse, privacy laws severely limit the ability of banks […]

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Estate Plan Checkups – You Probably Need One

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Hawkins Elder Law.

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Planning for death or nursing home care unnerves some people so much that they never reconsider their plans or they avoid planning altogether. Many people assume (incorrectly) that their wills or trusts need no updates. Laws and family situations change enough that 5-year-old wills and […]

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Estate Planning: Avoiding Confusion

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Hawkins Elder Law.

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Many people who think of “probate” or an “estate” think of heirs arguing over a deceased person’s wealth. Thankfully, most estates are not contested and they lack Hollywood-style drama. Estate disputes usually involve unclearly worded wills or inconsistent statements about estate plan intentions from the […]

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Estate Planning Issues for Remarried People

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Hawkins Elder Law.

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Divorce and remarriage causes many estate plan complications. This article describes asset problems that some remarried couples encounter and suggests ways to avoid or reduce the hardships of those problems. A remarried person’s spouse and children may differ about who should receive the person’s assets […]

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