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Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Apr 22, 2011 Taking the Time to Pick the Right Financial Adviser

QUOTE: So a decision to choose a new financial adviser or stick with the old one can be particularly fraught. How can investors know if they are getting good advice and, if they switch to someone else, how can they be sure the new adviser will be any better?

 New York Times
Nov 20, 2008 The New Old Age: Legally Responsible for Care

QUOTE: When the elderly exhaust their assets, individually or as a couple, the government steps in and pays for their long-term care. Adult children are not part of the Medicaid eligibility equation. But Medicaid is in big trouble — cutting here, squeezing there — and will be inundated when baby boomers reach old age. The staggering cost of long-term care and the explosion in the number of people who will need it has prompted a second look at filial responsibility laws as a way to deal with the impending crisis.

 New York Times
Jul 12, 2008 Sudden Legal Snags for Brown Auction

QUOTE: An auction by Christie’s of nearly 350 personal items from Mr. Brown’s estate, originally scheduled for Thursday, is up in the air, the victim of an escalating war between the soul singer’s feuding heirs. But not just the heirs are bickering. Like the tangled knot that was the life of the flamboyant Mr. Brown, who had multiple wives, consorts, children and grandchildren, some with unproven paternity, his estate is also in a twist. Two of his former business managers are at war with the estate’s court-appointed trustees.

 New York Times
Nov 04, 2007 Attack From Beyond (The Ethicist)

QUOTE: [1] If the instructions in her will do not violate the law...her executor is obliged to carry them out. [2] a group of four students was widely known to cheat on tests...What should I do?

 New York Times
Oct 07, 2007 Readers: The Burden of Being an Executor

QUOTE: "Poring over IRS documents to make sure I submitted all the required forms became like a second job. It was a labor of love, but it's still not over yet. While the court closed the probate and discharged us of our duties in January 2007, the IRS will not release us as fiduciaries of the estate until September 2008."

 Wall Street Journal, The (WSJ)
May 21, 2007 A Costly Glitch For 401(k) Heirs: A law giving nonspouses a tax break doesn't always apply. How to protect your kids

QUOTE: Children, siblings, unmarried partners, and other "nonspouse" beneficiaries have long been subject to onerous rules requiring them to cash out 401(k) inheritances within one to five years of the account owner's death. At that point, the heir would owe income tax on the entire account, since taxes had been deferred. The new law was supposed to change that by putting all beneficiaries on an equal footing with spouses, who have always been free to transfer inherited 401(k)s to an individual retirement account and stretch the withdrawals—and tax bills—over their own life expectancies. But a recent Internal Revenue Service ruling has advisers warning that the new law doesn't offer the protection they hoped it would.

 BusinessWeek
Oct 20, 2006 Treasury to address 529 plan loopholes

QUOTE: The bill also instructed the Department of the Treasury to close the loopholes that could allow the wealthy to use 529s to sidestep estate and gift taxes.

 Bankrate.com
Sep 20, 2006 Be choosy when hiring a financial adviser

QUOTE: Be aware of industry standards....Look for credentials....Experience counts....How they get compensated....Does personality matter?

 Bankrate.com
Aug 19, 2006 70's Law Costs 61,000 Military Widows Thousands of Dollars in Survivor Benefits

QUOTE: As many as 61,000 military widows whose husbands died of causes relating to their military service lose out on thousands of dollars a year in survivor benefits because of a law that dates from the 1970’s...referred to by many critics as the “widow’s tax.’’

 New York Times
Aug 09, 2006 Love and money and fraud: Financial exploitation of the elderly is growing – and family members are often the culprits.

QUOTE: "Financial abuse and exploitation are among the fastest growing forms of elder abuse nationally as measured by different studies and reports," says Bob Blancato, national coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition

 Christian Science Monitor
Jul 27, 2006 More Hope for the Truly Rich

QUOTE: the I.R.S. said that most of the taxable gifts it audited had shortchanged the government, and it pledged to hire more lawyers to audit big gifts. The underlying fact of the matter is that the I.R.S. hasn’t released the data that would allow researchers — and the public — to verify whether cutting back on estate-tax audits represents sound tax enforcement.

 New York Times
May 28, 2006 Death Pays Off

QUOTE: I registered the name of a promising young local athlete as a domain name, intending to create a sports Web site. ecause I could not be sure how they would use it, I decided simply to give it to his family. My brother thought I was nuts to give away something so potentially valuable and urged me to ask the family for a fee based on the son's future earnings. Fair?

 New York Times
May 24, 2006 Retirement plan distribution land mines

QUOTE: The rules for retirement-plan distributions are so complex that even full-time financial professionals often botch things up for their clients...Sometimes the botch occurs during the rollover process...

 Bankrate.com
Feb 21, 2006 Getting Stuck With the Tab:Tighter Asset Spend-Down Rules Will Force More Families to Cover Nursing Home Costs Alone

QUOTE: Seniors who had been expecting Medicaid to help pay their nursing home bills may soon be facing those expenses alone....experts say that the changes aimed at the affluent will also ensnare needy seniors by creating lengthy waiting periods before they qualify...After qualifying, an individual must spend virtually his or her income on nursing home care.

 Washington Post
Jan 04, 2006 Buy-sell agreements a family business must

QUOTE: ...a powerful preventative measure that can preserve a family's love and livelihood: the buy-sell agreement. In it, owners specify a course of action when a "trigger event" such as death, divorce or a withdrawing partner places a business' ownership, or even its continued existence, in jeopardy. The agreement is often included as part of the company's overarching operating agreement.

 Bankrate.com
Nov 12, 2005 Leaving House to Children Requires Careful Planning

QUOTE: ...have your financial and legal advisers review your will and any estate-planning arrangements you have made. You want to leave your current house to your children, so you have to make sure that your will reflects current law and is specific enough to accomplish your desire.

 Washington Post
Sep 24, 2005 Frist Sale of Stock Spurs Inquiries Into Trust

QUOTE: ...federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission had begun investigating the circumstances surrounding Mr. Frist's June sale of his remaining stake in HCA. The sale occurred just as the company's share price was reaching a new peak and about to take a steep tumble. A spokesman for Mr. Frist, the Senate majority leader and brother of an HCA chairman emeritus...

 New York Times
Jul 01, 2005 Will kits: Cheap, easy and sometimes useful

QUOTE: If you don't have much money to spend on estate planning, consider a do-it-yourself-will kit, although most lawyers aren't enthusiastic about them and will warn you that an improperly used kit could leave your estate open to confusion or lawsuit. Certainly these kits aren't a good answer for people with lots of money to leave and complex plans for dividing it up, or for people whose families are inclined to fight over what's left, no matter what.

 Bankrate.com
May 27, 2005 Who will inherit my credit card debt?

QUOTE: When you die...If the estate cannot pay off the debt, no one else can be held responsible for your debt unless he or she is a co-signer on the account.

 Bankrate.com
Jun 16, 2004 Fair play: You love all your children. But does that mean you should leave the same amount to each of them?

QUOTE: Equal vs. equitable? What is fair? It's a question that has stumped families for generations. Do you treat your children equally no matter what, or do you take into account that one child is a struggling artist and another an investment banker? What about the hard-luck child? Or the proverbial black sheep?

 CNN/Money Magazine
Jan 28, 2002 Sept. 11 Families Accused of Greed

QUOTE: "The perception has gone from us generating all this sympathy to a situation where people think we are as greedy as a pack of wolves,"...

 Washington Post
Aug 24, 2001 Is Someone You Love Gambling Away Their -- and Your -- Future?

QUOTE: ...while couples typically hold property as "Joint Tenants with Right of Survival" or "Tenancy in Common" these are not necessarily the best way to title assets. Instead, consider putting them solely in the name of the non-gambling spouse. However, be aware that this is not a fail-safe way to keep assets out of the hands of your spouse's creditors. Depending on the state where you live, no matter how the property is titled, you may still be liable for the debts racked up by your spouse.

 Fox News
Apr 01, 2001 10 Things Your Estate Planner Won't Tell You

QUOTE: The overwhelming majority of estates don't trigger the federal estate tax," says Don Roberts, national spokesman for the IRS, adding that you must be worth at least $1 million when you die to pay tax at all. If you fall below that-and don't have any complicated estate issues-you probably don't need a lawyer to draw up a will.

 Smart Money