InterActive Legal Advisor and Director of Elder Law Strategy, Letha McDowell, was featured in a recent Money Magazine article titled How to Support Your Retired Parents Without Sinking Your Own Retirement Plan. The article sheds light on the seldom discussed topic of working-age children who find themselves in the position... Continue reading

by Anna E. Byrne One of the most difficult things we as estate planners face is the eventual and inevitable responsibility of helping and comforting a client whose spouse has passed away. It is heart wrenching. But it is also the time when we can most offer help and provide... Continue reading

Twas the week before Christmas, and Congress was trending Impeachment and budget bills both had been pending Articles to impeach were debated and passed And left for the Senate to later rehash With that taken care of, the next thing to do Was keep the government running, the whole year through Continue reading

Historical items can be valuable. This presentation-inscribed Colt Model 1861 New Model Navy Revolver, from the Colt Co. to E.W. Parsons of Adams Express Co., sold for $805,000 at a September 2011 auction. by Vanessa L. Kanaga, Esq. This article was originally published by Heritage Auctioneers & Galleries, Inc., "Trusts... Continue reading

by Audrey Ehrhardt, Esq., CBC, Practice42 ADA accessibility and compliance in law firm websites across the nation are becoming not only more relevant, but a necessity as we see an increasing amount of litigation against businesses over their websites. Website accessibility lawsuits center around the fact that all, or a... Continue reading

In January 2019, at The Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, a select group of InterActive Legal subscribers were invited to a private luncheon screening of the documentary film, "Lives Well Lived." The film visits with 40 people ranging in age from 75 to 100 years young and casts a light... Continue reading

Melbourne, FL - InterActive Legal welcomes Deirdre R. Wheatley-Liss, Esq. and Scott M. Solkoff, Esq. to its Advisory Board. It is my honor to welcome two of the nation’s top elder law attorneys, Deirdre Wheatley-Liss and Scott Solkoff, to the InterActive Legal Advisory Board. It is fitting that Deirdre and... Continue reading

by Vanessa L. Kanaga, Esq. On May 23, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that, if signed into law, would significantly change estate planning for Qualified Plans and IRAs (referred to herein, collectively, as "Retirement Benefits"). The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019... Continue reading

Melbourne, FL — InterActive Legal extends a warm welcome to the newest member of its legal team, accomplished estate planning attorney, Mohineet Khosla. Mohineet Khosla received her J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2001. Following law school, Mohineet practiced for over a decade at Milbank LLP in... Continue reading

by Scott M. Solkoff, Esq.[1] Two major pressures are moving the practices of Estate Planning and Elder Law together. The dominant pressure is one of demand. For most Americans, the greatest threat to their financial well-being is not taxes. It is the cost of incapacity and long-term care. Addressing these... Continue reading

by Vanessa L. Kanaga, Esq. A recent set of articles published in the February issue of Trusts & Estates discusses the pros and cons of using Document Assembly Systems (referred to in the articles as "DAS"). The articles are nicely presented as a Point/Counterpoint feature. In the first article (the... Continue reading

© 2019 by Jonathan G. Blattmachr & Martin M. Shenkman. All Rights Reserved. With the estate, gift and GST exemption at nearly $11.5 million and scheduled to grow until 2026 when they will be cut in half, few advisers are focusing on wealth transfer tax planning for their clients. And... Continue reading

By Michael L. Graham, Esq. Your law firm email is secure, right? If it were not, you would have issues with your state’s ethical rules requiring you to keep client confidences. As a summary and guide for the multiple state ethical rules, ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct §1.6(a) provides:... Continue reading

The time to address digital assets as part of your client’s estate plan may have begun to run out. We’ve all heard about digital assets, cryptocurrency and occasional lawsuits by family members against social media giants like Yahoo! and Facebook. But now the topic of digital assets will necessarily have landed on your desk when you begin the estate planning process for a client. Are you fully prepared to help your clients plan for this new asset class, and to protect yourself and your practice from doing the wrong thing? Continue reading

By Vanessa L. Kanaga As any estate planner knows, the 2017 law commonly referred to as the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" or "TCJA" (Pub. Law 115-97) changed the landscape of estate planning, perhaps not permanently (because what tax law is ever permanent?), but for the near future. The Basic... Continue reading

By Audrey Ehrhardt, JD, CBC, Founder/CEO Practice42 Are you one of the many people who want to learn how to use Adobe, but just don’t know how? The numerous features that Adobe has makes it very appealing to the customer, but it also makes it a complicated tool to learn... Continue reading

By Betsy Ehrenberg In today’s increasingly connected world, identity theft has become a serious problem. It is estimated that 17.6 million Americans are the victims of some form of identity theft every year. Of those attacks, 2.5 million happen to someone who is deceased. This means 2,200 deceased Americans will... Continue reading

By Wendy Witt, JD With only a glance, you have instant access to your car’s dashboard, displaying exactly what you need to know to diagnose a problem and determine what action to take next: fill the gas tank, change the oil, check the engine, or adjust your speed. Your doctor... Continue reading

By Jennifer Traglia, Gerontologist It’s been two weeks since you last spoke to Jack. His mother, your client, has just fallen – again. This time it sounds serious. As far as you know, she is still in the hospital, with a long road of rehab ahead. Naturally, as a trusted... Continue reading

InterActive Legal is delighted to commemorate 15 years of dedicated service by Senior Application Developer, Deslin Simmons. A veteran member of the team, Deslin worked with InterActive Legal authors and principals, Mike Graham and Jonathan Blattmachr, on the very first version of InterActive LegalSuite, released in 2003. In her primary... Continue reading

By Elizabeth Q. Boehmcke, Esq. This is the third and final installment of a three-part series on the recently released final regulations that impact the Veterans Aid & Attendance pension benefit ("Aid & Attendance"). In the prior blog posts, I discussed the look-back period and transfer penalties that are now... Continue reading

By Elizabeth Q. Boehmcke, Esq. This is the second of a three-part series on the recently released final regulations that impact the Veterans Aid & Attendance pension benefit. In the prior blog post, I discussed the new net worth regulations, including the new bright-line test for net worth currently set... Continue reading

… for most Americans, avoiding estate tax should not and was not the main goal of planning. Rather, taking care of relatives in a thoughtful manner was the primary focus. That should continue and, even though estate tax avoidance may not be the primary consideration, tax reduction should continue to be a major part of planning even for the less than super affluent property owners. Continue reading

For professionals who work with veterans, their surviving spouses and families, the final regulations bring significant changes to the considerations that bear on their planning for such individuals. The final regulations made major changes in three areas that will impact planning for the Aid & Attendance pension benefit: the calculation of net worth, an expansion of the types of expenses which can be taken as unreimbursed medical deductions from income, and the imposition of a three-year look back period for certain transfers, and penalties for such transfers. Continue reading

By Joanne Marcus, MSW, and Karen Dunivan Konvicka, Esq., Commonwealth Community Trust This article was originally published in "NAELA News." The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are not to be construed as an endorsement by NAELA or InterActive Legal. When the call comes from... Continue reading