Live Like You're Going to Die...

We we often meet with families who are experiencing significant stress typically originating from disability or the death of a loved-one. 

This being the case, in the course of reading online the Huffington Post, there are was an article by Mike Robbins that captivated my attention entitled, "Live Like You're Going to Die (Because You Are)."

The author's inspiration for contemplating death was Steve Jobs and in the article, he provides us with some things that we can think about and focus on and do on a regular basis that will allow us to live like we're going to die, in a positive way. 

Read the full article...

Can Probate Be Avoided?

There are a number of different ways of holding assets that will avoid probate. 


The simplest is probably just joint ownership, such as a piece of real estate held as joint tenants or a bank account held jointly. This type of assets will pass automatically to the other joint owner when the first owner dies – but keep in mind, there will still be a probate at the second death. 


Another way to avoid probate is by assets which have 'designated beneficiaries', such as an insurance policy or a retirement plan (such as an IRA). These assets will pass to those beneficiaries when the owner of the asset dies.


Still another way to avoid probate is to hold assets in a revocable trust. More on this in our next post...