Sometimes the estate planning legal practice area looks like a bunch of capital letters jumbled together. HEMS, QTIP, CRAT, and ILIT get thrown around with assumptions that everyone knows what the letters stand for. Sometimes clients get overwhelmed with the alphabet soup.
In Maryland, the statutes lay out certain requirements that must be met to create and execute an estate plan. For someone to execute a will, he or she must be 18 years of age, of sound mind and sign the will in the presence of two witnesses and a notary.
Long-term care planning involves looking at your wealth portfolio and determining how to instruct your family to pay for any long-term care you may need. Long-term care costs in Maryland can be very expensive, often averaging more than $10,000 per month.
While the pandemic has increased the overall estate planning activity, many Maryland residents still do not have a plan in place. The statistics are consistent with other states and the country as a whole shows that only 32% of Americans have a will (Caring.com).
Many clients search online for do-it-yourself estate planning forms or call an estate planning law firm asking for prices for a simple will. They are often convinced that it is a standard form where you simply change out the names and execute it.
The cost of long-term care in a nursing home facility in many of the urban portions of Maryland range from $11,000 to $14,000 per month. This can be a daunting figure for many upcoming retirees to wrap their heads around.
Learning that you are receiving an inheritance can be a really exciting, per perhaps overwhelming concept. There are a few things to know about inheriting assets because depending on the type of asset, you may need to plan for and manage them differently.
These type of “see-through” trusts come into play when someone leaves an IRA to beneficiaries in a will or trust. Inherited IRA rules are different for spouses and non-spouses, and have changed under the SECURE Act.
There are two basic types of trust documents designed specifically for married couples. One is called the A-B Trust and the other is a Disclaimer Trust.
