Blended families are no longer limited to television sitcoms. The Pew Research Center reports that 41% of all Americans have at least one step-relative of one kind or another. As many as 1,300 new stepfamilies or blended families are created daily, according to the Stepfamily Foundation. But blending families includes decisions about finances, and that includes estate planning issues.
The Miami (OK) New-Record’s recent article, “4 tips to resolve financial concerns in stepfamilies,” provides some tips and answers for issues within stepfamilies.
Read MorePlanning for the Next Stage of Life
It’s far easier to delay thinking about our own aging and end of life decisions when parents are healthy and well. However, once you’ve experienced the illness, incapacity and/or death of a parent, reality sets in. That’s when you realize that you need to start planning, including planning for long-term care.
WTOP’s recent article, “Preparing for old age: Long-term care, insurance and estate planning,” says the first step is to mirror the kind of conversations you held with your parents and have the same conversation with yourself.
Read MorePlanning for Assisted Living’s High Cost
The sad truth is, for most people, savings and Social Security checks simply won’t be enough to cover the cost of assisted living. Many people find themselves needing to combine several different sources, including the generosity of family members, the proceeds of the sale of the family home and, if it was purchased well in advance, a long-term care insurance policy.
Consumer Reports provides some helpful advice to help you afford assisted living in its recent article, “11 Ways to Afford the Assisted Living Care You Need.”
Read MoreHow to Help Parents Get Estate Planning Done
There are families who understand the importance of estate planning. There are even some who use it as a tool to facilitate discussions with their adult children about what they would want to happen if they were to become incapacitated and get their children on the same page about family values and legacies.
However, as reported in The Napa Valley Register’s“Estate planning for your parents,” not all parents are open to this. Some are insecure about their lack of knowledge, and there can be fear of the cost or undue influence. In some instances, parents just don’t want to come to terms with their mortality. Whatever it is, if a parent delays or doesn’t make an estate plan, the children will potentially have stress and conflict—and have to clean up the mess.
Read MoreIRS Gives Break to Surviving Spouses
Don’t wait too long to take advantage of a new ruling that, says Forbes in “IRS Offers Estate Tax Relief To Widows And Widowers.” The deadline for this process is January 2, 2018.
DSUE comes from a simplification of the estate tax in 2010 and the two most important provisions of the estate tax for many “moderate” millionaires: (i) the unified credit, which protects $5.49 million from estate tax in 2017; and (ii) the unlimited marital deduction. The unlimited marital deduction allows any amount left to the surviving spouse to be free of estate tax, if chosen.
Read More