Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Signs That You Should Hire A Probate Lawyer
You never procrastinate, and you never shy away from difficult tasks. You always file your taxes before March 31. When you moved to Florida, you got the hurricane shutters on your house functional by May of the first year you were here. You unpack your suitcase by the time you go to bed on… Read More »
Do You Have To Disinherit Your Ex-Spouse When You Get Divorced?
The general principle of estate planning is that, when you write your will, you can leave property to anyone you choose and disinherit anyone you choose. If you disinherit close relatives, they have a chance to challenge your will during probate, but the burden of proof is on the disinherited family members to persuade… Read More »
How Bad Is It To Drag Your Feet Before Opening An Estate For Probate?
Once you open a deceased family member’s estate for probate, you are constantly trying to meet deadlines. You must file the decedent’s final tax return by April 15 or else file for an extension, in which case you must file it by October 15. Once you publish the notice to creditors, they have three… Read More »
Lady Bird Deeds Are Lighter On Their Feet Than The Average Life Estate Deed
If you have a blended family and are capable of thinking about anyone other than yourself, then you probably find the stories of probate “stepparent wars” disturbing, the ones where the decedent’s spouse spends years in court fighting with the decedent’s children from a previous marriage. Estate planning lawyers tell their clients early and… Read More »
Who’s Afraid Of Early Withdrawals From Retirement Accounts?
If you have an employer-provided retirement account, you can confidently say that your financial situation could be worse. When times are good, you daydream about required minimum distributions, working out various scenarios on your calculator, spreadsheets, or retirement planning websites about when you might retire, how much you will withdraw and what year, and… Read More »
Can Credit Insurance Simplify Your Probate Case?
In our current economic conditions, getting out of debt can feel hopeless. When you are young, borrowing money feels exhilarating. You look forward to paying off your car loan or home mortgage and living debt free while your savings pile up. In your youthful innocence, you don’t know how hard it is to pay… Read More »
What Are The Remedies For Wrongful Disposition Of Remains?
If you have thought about any of the provisions of your will, but not yet written it, you have probably thought about which family members, friends, or charities you want to inherit which items of property from your estate. You might even have someone in mind to designate as personal representative; the person can… Read More »
Which Retirement Income Should You Spend First?
People who are inclined to daydream about being rich often envision a future where they can live off the interest of their savings. Most of them will never do it; you must be extraordinarily wealthy to achieve this. It is how university endowments work; the endowment is the principal balance of the university’s savings… Read More »
The Open-Faced Sandwich Generation
If you need proof that grandparents are the foundation of a family, look at any holiday gathering. The people who attend do so because they have a connection to the oldest members of the family. In multigenerational households, heritage languages survive as grandparents speak them and watch content streaming channels in them, so the… Read More »
Your Best Options For Avoiding A Miserable Retirement If You Don’t Have Savings
Whether Social Security checks provide enough income to sustain you in your retirement depends largely on how much money you have when you do not figure in your Social Security income. If you have a retirement pension, distributions from a 401(k) account, or both, and you and your spouse each get Social Security income,… Read More »
