A power of attorney document allows someone else to act as your agent and handle your legal and financial affairs. It’s critical to have such a document in case you become incapacitated. Sometimes, people want to name more than one agent. For instance, a person may have two children, and not want one child to feel that the other is being favored. Sometimes a parent will name two children and give them both access to all
Sometimes, despite everyone’s best efforts, things change and the terms of an older, irrevocable trust just don’t work as well as they could in the present circumstances. But there’s a movement afoot to allow people in such a situation to solve the problem by moving the assets from an older trust into a newer one with more appropriate rules. This is sometimes called “decanting” a trust, because you’re basically pouring the assets from an older container
As a result of changes in the law, a lot of wills that were drafted even relatively recently may now result in a capital gains tax issue, and if you have such a will, you might want to consider revising it to save taxes. Here’s the background: When a person dies, he or she can leave an unlimited amount of assets to a spouse without incurring the federal estate tax. If assets are left to anyone
If you’re wondering at what age your children or grandchildren will be old enough to handle an inheritance, well, you’re not alone. U.S. Trust recently conducted a survey of wealthy Americans (with assets of $3 million or more) and asked them that precise question. The issue is important because many parents leave assets in a trust for children or grandchildren until they reach a certain age, so the parents have to choose an age at which
Often, one of the hardest decisions people make in the estate planning process is how much (and when) to tell their children or other heirs about their plans. There’s no single right answer for everybody; what to do depends on the nature of your planning and your family circumstances. But it’s worth giving the issue some consideration. Many people are very hesitant to reveal the details of their family’s expected inheritances. A recent survey by UBS
Did you know that 17 percent of the U.S. population – that’s more than 50 million Americans – are living in households with two adult generations? Some of these are homes where “boomerang” children have returned home after college. But in a great many cases, seniors who no longer want to live alone (or are no longer able to live alone) are living with their middle-aged children. Sometimes the senior moves in with the children, sometimes
More and more start-up businesses are seeking funding on websites such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo, promising small rewards to individual investors in return for micro-contributions. These include the Veronica Mars movie, which raised millions of dollars by promising small contributors posters, DVDs and movie scripts, and a space telescope project that offered “space selfies.” But keep in mind that these promises are a legal obligation – so if you end up getting hundreds or even thousands
Companies cannot require workers to receive payment of their wages via “payroll cards,” according to the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Payroll cards have become popular recently, especially in the retail and food service industries. But under federal law, a company can’t make the cards the exclusive way it offers to pay wages. State laws may impose further restrictions on the cards.
If you sign a licensing agreement to sell someone else’s products, but that person already has an exclusive license with a third party to sell the same products, you could be legally on the hook. That’s a lesson that J.C. Penney learned the hard way, after it signed an agreement with Martha Stewart to sell a variety of her housewares in special dedicated sections of its stores. The problem was that Martha Stewart had previously signed
A car dealership couldn’t be held liable in court for a salesman who sexually assaulted a customer, according to the Texas Court of Appeals. The customer had brought her car in for service and was waiting for a shuttle bus to take her home. The salesman offered to drive her home in his personal car, and she claimed that along the way, he made improper advances. The dealership immediately fired the salesman. The customer sued the
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