1. Transition to Adulthood: What Happens Legally When My Child Turns 18?

    Soon after the challenges of puberty and the excitement of high school, an even larger milestone looms: the 18th birthday. It marks your child’s transition from childhood to adulthood, and with it new responsibilities and rights. From a legal standpoint, this milestone also brings significant changes that every parent should be aware of.  In the eyes of the law, an indi…Read More

  2. Don’t Leave Your Children With The Babysitter Until You Read This

    As we head into the third year of the pandemic, we are coming to terms with just how fragile our lives and health really are. If you haven’t gotten sick yourself, it’s almost certain you know someone who has, and many of us even know of one or more individuals who have died in the past two years.      Although serious illness and death are something we are always at…Read More

  3. Putting Your Kids On The Payroll Can Benefit Your Business AND Help You Save Big Money On Your Taxes

    Paying your children—whether they’re tweens, teens, or young adults—to work for your company is one of the greatest advantages of running a family business. By hiring your kids, you can help them develop a strong work ethic, give them experience managing money, and jumpstart their ability to save for their future, all while keeping more wealth in your family.     I…Read More

  4. Think You Are Too Young to Need An Estate Plan? Think Again

    The pandemic has caused Americans to change their behavior in a number of different ways, and one of the most positive of these changes is related to estate planning. For the first time since the study’s inception, Caring.com’s 2021 Wills and Estate Planning Study found that young adults are now more likely to have an estate plan than middle-aged adults. https://www.c…Read More

  5. Estate Planning Must Haves for Parents – Even If You Have Legal Documents  

    A comprehensive estate plan can protect the things that matter most. For many, this means their property and their family.   Including provisions for the care of your children in your estate plan is essential for peace of mind. But many parents struggle with including such provisions as naming a legal guardian for their child in their plan. Indeed, even the fictional pare…Read More

  6. How Estate Planning Can Bring Blended Families Closer

    Yours, mine and ours … in today’s modern family, it’s oh so common. The blended family is the product of 2nd (or more) marriages, in which one or more of the parties comes with children from a prior marriage. And then, they may even go on to have children together.   If you have or are part of a blended family, it’s important to understand how estate planning coul…Read More

  7. A Not-So-Happy Accident: Bob Ross’s Estate Planning Failures Leave His Son With Next to Nothing—Part 1

    As the host of the wildly popular The Joy of Painting TV series on PBS, Bob Ross became a pop-culture icon, who was equally famous for his giant head of hair, soothing baritone voice, and folksy demeanor as he was for his iconic landscape paintings. And like so many other artists, Bob’s artwork and image would become even more popular following Bob’s death in 1995. Bob…Read More

  8.  Legendary Rapper DMX Dies With No Will, Millions in Debt, and 15 Children—Part 1

    Legendary hip hop artist DMX—born Earl Simmons—passed away on April 9 at age 50 after suffering a massive heart attack a week earlier at his home in White Plains, New York. The heart attack was reportedly triggered by a cocaine overdose on April 2, which left the rapper hospitalized in a coma. After a week of lingering in a vegetative state, his family made the decisio…Read More

  9. 3 Vital Estate Planning Documents for High School Graduates

    With the arrival of summer, young people across the country are about to reach a key milestone: high school graduation. If you have a child claiming their diploma, now is the time to prepare them for life after leaving the nest. Graduating high school is a significant accomplishment. However, it comes with serious responsibilities that your child probably isn't thinking mu…Read More

  10. When It Comes to Inheritance, Treating Children Equally Not Always the Best Plan

    While most parents have the inclination to treat all their children equally when it comes to an inheritance, Family Wealth Lawyers know that this is not always the wise choice.  Here are some scenarios when an unequal distribution may be better: Children of unequal wealth – If you have one child that is a successful entrepreneur and another that is a social worker, you …Read More

  11. How to Protect Your Assets from a Child’s Divorce

    A child’s wedding day is one of the happiest occasions in life for most parents, especially when they approve wholeheartedly of that child’s choice of mate. Sometimes, however, the choice is not always welcomed, and parents become concerned about how to protect assets they plan to leave their children in case of a divorce. Fortunately, there are several estate planning…Read More

  12. 7 Reasons to Consider a Trust for Your Family

    Do you consider trusts to be instruments of the wealthy?  While it is true that many Americans of means have trusts to protect and pass their wealth, there are a number of reasons why trusts can also be useful for middle-class families. Here are 7 of them: Control distribution of assets. You wouldn’t hand over your car keys to a child who has had no proper preparation f…Read More