A common misperception about estate planning is that it is a "set it and forget it" activity. Often listed as a to-do on a long checklist of prudent adult responsibilities, creating a Will or naming guardians is a task that tends to be postponed year-to-year until something happens that causes you to visit an estate[...]
Last month, Congress passed a broad tax law that included estate tax provisions increasing exemption amounts to $5 million per person. The new law, now known by an acronym that, if I write it here, will have you fleeing to another site — it's that boring — also includes a provision that allows an individual[...]
The Internet is such an interesting place. One of the most powerful things about it is that it's lowered the bar for people to self-publish. It used to be that you could trust something that was published, due in large part to the high barrier to entry to publishing and a tacit agreement among publishers[...]
Imagine that you've recently lost a loved one and you've been named "executor" of the estate. You might be surprised to learn that you can't finish the process in a month, or even two for that matter. First, in New Jersey, you can't submit a Will to the court or begin probating estate until 10[...]
Just like the famous Google Ad about finding love in Paris, we've created our own Estate Planning Google Search Story. It's all about why searches on estate planning keep bringing up "www.JerseyEstatePlanning.com" as the top result and finally asks the question, "Who is www.JerseyEstatePlanning.com?" The answer, of course, is: Medina Law Group, YourLawyers4Life. Here is[...]
Folks in the Princeton area are probably familiar with the US 1 newspaper that is handed out free to area businesses. It's a good paper that offers a lot of insightful articles on business-related issues and items of interest in the Princeton area. Usually, the newspaper includes an editorial, and a few months ago, one[...]
Amber Watson-Tardiff, who posts a regular column on NJ.com about Parenting Advice for New Jersey parents asked me to comment for an article she was writing about the fallout from Balloon Boy, including anticipating court intervention with the parents. You can read the whole article here - and I've pasted most of the column below[...]
Recently, I posted about the need to pass on your "on line" information as part of a comprehensive estate plan. My article examined the various companies that offered to guard that information for you. It seems like the Wall Street Journal reads my blog because they just published an article of their own on Sunday[...]
It's been less than 24 hours since Michael Jackson's death, and already there have been articles posted on the Internet about the singer's estate plan. MSNBC posted this article, concluding that the singer's estate would not be settled without controversy. I feel passionately enough about what I do for a living to take advantage of[...]
In my experience, people choose 1 of 4 approaches regarding their estate planning. 1) Do Nothing. By far, this is the largest segment of the population. I often speak to local mom's groups (younger market) and service organizations (older market). These are workshops where there is just as much a chance that someone's done estate[...]