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When a close family member passes away, there are certain steps that you should take, as soon as you possibly can.

Death can be overwhelming for the family of the deceased. On top of the grieving process itself, there are many other things which families have to deal with. There are obvious things that need to be done, such as planning a memorial and burial or cremation.

There are also legal issues with the estate that also need to be resolved and the sooner the better. Getting a handle on those legal things can be difficult.

Taking a few steps can make things much easier, as Kiplinger discussed in "5 Things to Do the Moment a Loved One...

People are planning more for their pet's care after the owner passes away today. They are also planning more for the personal items they have purchased for their pets.

In the last few years, stories about wealthy people who have left large sums of money in their estate plans for the care of their pets have gone from rare curiosities to commonplace. Providing money for a pet's care in an estate plan is not just for the wealthy anymore.

Planning for pets has become an important part of many estate plans. What is still somewhat rare, however, is making special provisions in an estate plan for personal property for pets. That could also be...

There is a very simple way to know when you should make changes to your estate plan.

When you create an estate plan, the attorney who drafted it for you, will likely remind you to review the estate plan from time to time and make changes. This often prompts clients to ask exactly when they need to do that. The common answer is that you should review and make changes to your plan, whenever you have a significant change in life circumstances.

That is the legally appropriate answer. However, the answer also invites questions about what constitutes a significant change in life circumstances. There is a simpler way to look at this, as the...

Estate planning is not just for the wealthy. People of more modest means can also benefit from it. It does not have to be difficult.

When you start talking to people about planning their estates, they often respond in a similar way. It goes something like this: "I am not rich. I am a regular guy and do not have very much. There is no reason for me to go through the difficult process of getting an estate plan. My family will work everything out after I pass away."

The assumptions being made here are that estate planning is difficult and non-wealthy people do not need to do it. As to the latter, anyone who wants to have a say in who gets...

People who suffer from dementia often act differently at different times of the day. It is common for many to get worse near sundown.

If you use an alarm clock to wake up at the same time every day, you may reach a point where you do not really need the clock. Instead, you may sometimes wake up just before the alarm normally goes off. If you forget to set the alarm, you will often wake up at about the same time as well.

This can happen even if you went to bed much later than normal the previous night. People commonly refer to this phenomenon as their “biological clock” and we all have one.

For elderly people with dementia or cognitive ...

By changing how they define Alzheimer's Disease, scientists hope they can better understand how it works and possibly find new treatments.

Some diseases are very easy to define, especially when it involves something physical. For example, chicken pox is defined by the presence of the active virus in your bloodstream and the physical marks associated with the disease.

Other diseases are defined by the presence of certain symptoms, such as various mental health diseases and Alzheimer's is one of the latter. It is defined by people who have certain symptoms.

Some scientists would like to change that for research purposes as NPR reports in

Should you be notified that you are the potential beneficiary of someone's estate, then what happens next depends on state laws.

When a will is filed in probate court, one of the first things normally required is to notify everyone who is named in the will or who may potentially benefit from the will. Sometimes, that can be many people, as is the case of the recently deceased actor John Mahoney.

His estate is worth approximately $5 million and there are 38 people who could be beneficiaries. Most of the time, the number of people notified is likely to be far less. If you are notified that you could potentially benefit from a will, you need...

Studies have shown that an increasing number of retired Americans are choosing to return to work. The reason is normally not because they need money.

Most people dream of the day when they no longer must work for a living. After a long work life, they dream of being able to do other things with their time. It does not apply to everyone, but most people look forward to retirement.

We also tend to think that retired people stay retired. However, over the last couple of decades, studies have found that an increasing number of retired people decided to go back to work. One study concluded that 40% of working Americans over the age of 65 had...

It is possible that a growing elderly population in the U.S., could lead to a shortage of caregivers available to assist the elderly.

A couple of very large problems are looming on the horizon for the U.S., because of an increasingly aging population that is living longer on average than previous generations. These looming problems include not having enough trained caregivers to assist the aging populace and coming up with the money to properly care for seniors.

We know that both these things could potentially be a problem and we do not know what will happen, if the issues are not addressed before they become problems. However, other...

Criminal scammers like to target seniors because they are often easier for them to fool.

Most people have probably been the victim of a scam of some sort. Even if it was a benign scam, like someone tricking us into believing something that is false, it still counts as being scammed. Anyone can be the victim of a scam.

However, when unscrupulous people try to scam others with criminal intent, usually out of money, then such criminals prefer to take the path of least resistance to make their schemes successful. That means many scammers prefer to target the elderly, whenever possible. This is because the elderly are more likely to suffer...

If you look around your home, you can probably find a lot of items that are precious to you that your kids would prefer not to receive as part of their inheritances.

One of the smaller but significant mistakes in estate planning is when parents make assumptions about what items of personal property their children might like to inherit. For example, a parent might have collectible plates that have been purchased through the years, but the children might not have any interest in them.

Why? Perhaps many other people have the same plates, making the plates not worth very much in the present market.

Inheriting such things becomes a burden for...

Actor John Mahoney recently passed away while in hospice care. He left behind an estate that is worth millions, with many possible heirs.

Actor John Mahoney had a long and distinguished career as an actor in a variety of roles. He was best known for his award-winning work on the TV show Frasier, in which he played the main character's elderly father.

He passed away recently at a hospice, while suffering from a variety of illnesses. Friends, former co-workers and fans have shown an immense amount of grief over the loss.

One friend recently petitioned a court to open a probate case to settle Mahoney's estate, as TMZ reported in "'Frasier'...

One of the most important things that you need to know if you have a will, is when to review and make changes.

It is likely that you will experience many changes in your life throughout your adult years. Those changes will not only be personal, such as getting married and having children, but also financial, such as getting a promotion or changing jobs for greater income. The various changes in your life make it likely that you will want to adjust how you distribute your estate.

Your life can look radically different at age 70 compared to when you were age 30. Not every change in your life will necessitate a change to your estate plans....

Estate planning for assets that are unique, such as antiques, artwork or collectibles requires special attention and care.

When planning for your estate it is important to know the value of your assets. That way you can make sure everything is distributed between your family members in the proportions you want.

The value is easy to determine for financial accounts. It is also easy for things that are routinely bought and sold in open markets such as cars. However, there are many other items in your estate that are more difficult to value.

Artwork, for example, normally does not receive a specific value until someone purchases it at an...

Even if the recent tax law changes do not change the impact of the estate tax on your estate, there are other reasons to review your estate plan now.

Much of the estate planning talk about the recent large tax law changes has focused on the implications of the changes to the estate tax and the possibility of their rollback in a few years. Families that might be affected by those changes, are being advised to revisit their estate plans.

Unfortunately, the focus on that single issue might make people not affected by the estate tax think they have no need to review their estate plans. However, as Forbes discusses in "7 Reasons To Review Your...

Despite high volatility and cautions from financial advisors, cryptocurrencies continue to grow in popularity. That can make estate planning difficult.

Most financial advisors surveyed on the subject, say they would advise their clients not to invest in cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The markets for these and other digital currencies are extremely volatile and subject investors to substantial risk.

For many people, the volatility is attractive because there is a chance for a great reward. Therefore, cryptocurrencies are increasingly popular but they are choosing to deal with an issue discussed by the Financial Standard in...

People often think they can wait until they retire to make plans for their estates. However, it is very likely that people will need plans before then.

Americans generally like to drag their feet, when it comes to estate planning. They always think they can wait until they get a little bit older. Many try to put it off, as long as possible.

These Americans do not prepare estate plans, until they are about to retire or even until after they retire. That means they do not have wills. They do not have trusts. They do not have any advanced directives providing what should happen, if they become disabled.

People just assume they will not need...

A new study suggests that retired Americans are not running out of money.

The conventional wisdom is that when people retire, they will slowly spend down the money they saved for retirement. If they live long enough, they will eventually run out of retirement savings. This happens in many cases. However, a new study suggests that the opposite is actually happening.

The study found that two decades after retiring, 80% of retired Americans retained all of their pre-retirement assets and, in some cases, had more assets than when they retired. The Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog discussed this study in "Today's Retirees, The Lucky Few, Are...

It can be very expensive for families to provide the care needed for elderly parents. Sometimes living in the wrong state can make things worse.

In recent years, the costs of providing care for the elderly has skyrocketed. The rising costs have put extreme pressure on the finances of many American families who provide care for their older parents. The elderly parents often discover that they did not save enough for retirement to cover the rising costs for themselves.

However, not all states are equal. Caring for elderly parents is cheaper in some states than others.

Financial Advisor recently reported on a new survey that details the...

Americans are purchasing far fewer life insurance policies than they did a few decades ago. The reasons for the decline are not clear.

Life insurance can be a key tool in estate planning. This is because it provides a way to provide cash to families who might need it, especially while the rest of an estate is settled in probate. Life insurance can also help equalize inheritances between children, when other estate assets are difficult to divide.

Americans are purchasing fewer policies than before. Between 1965 and 2016 the population grew by approximately 50%. However, the total number of life insurance policies purchased by Americans...

Estate litigation occurs for a variety of reasons. However, experts can often predict what types of litigation will become more popular.

At the heart of most estate litigation cases is some sort of family grievance. There are other reasons for litigating over an estate. However, family issues are by far the biggest source of conflicts. That is a timeless principle that has been true since the very beginning of estate law and it is likely to always be true.

However, the contours of how the litigation proceeds changes over time. It is useful to try and anticipate how potential battles will look. Private Wealth recently predicted some...

An internal government audit has found that Social Security is underpaying many widows and widowers, because it is failing to adequately inform them of their options.

One of the most important and difficult decisions people must make when they are considering retirement, is when to start taking Social Security benefits. The longer people delay taking benefits, the more they will receive per month.

To get the maximum amount of lifetime benefits, people need to factor in their life expectancy. This is difficult enough for people who are just having to decide when to take their own benefits. However, it becomes even more difficult for those...

If you want to plan in advance for your own funeral so that your family does not have to make the arrangements, one of the questions to consider is whether or not you should also pay in advance. The answer might depend on your expected Medicaid needs.

In general, it is a good idea to pre-plan your own funeral. This allows you to determine where and how your remains will be handled. It also removes a potential burden for your family, when they will be in mourning over you.

Funeral homes offer many different types of pre-planning packages that include various levels of services. You can often even transfer a plan between funeral homes, if...

Some people think that scientists are not far away from creating the technology that will let human beings live forever. However, do not let that hope delay your estate planning.

Considering how many people delay getting estate plans, it might seem like the consensus is that most of us will live forever. If we never will pass away, then we will not have estates that need to be distributed after we pass away. For now, however, the idea of eternal life remains a matter of science fiction for many.

On the other hand, some people think it might not be fiction for very much longer, though as the Daily Mail reports in "Could you live forever?...

If there are things that you are hoping to do before you pass away, let your doctor know so that the doctor can better develop your treatments.

An unfortunate reality of modern medical care is that doctors do not always have the time or inclination to get to know their elderly patients very well on a personal level. Doctors can read charts and make medical findings, but they do not always know the desires and goals of their patients. When coming up with treatment plans and schedules, doctors do not normally take into account what the patient might want besides medical care.

Most elderly people do want other things.

Almost everyone has a...