Putting Your House in a Trust
Should you put your house in a trust? For some homeowners, it could be a smart move, but you need to know all the facts. Here are some insights into this little-known estate planning strategy to see if it’s right for you. If you have several properties — a vacation home, for instance — your […]
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What To Know About Special Needs Trusts
If you need to provide for someone who’s physically or mentally disabled or chronically ill but don’t want to jeopardize his or her public assistance disability benefits, creating a special needs trust is a popular strategy. Usually, such programs as Social Security Supplemental Security Income, Medicare and Medicaid impose an income or asset ceiling. However, […]
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What Is a Conservatorship — and Who Needs It?
Recently, singer Britney Spears testified in court about the 13 years she has spent in a legal structure called a conservatorship. In vivid testimony, she described her father and lawyers seizing control of her rights to make personal, financial, and legal decisions. How can this happen to an adult with a successful career, and why […]
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What to Know About Organ Donation
You may need an organ transplant if one of your organs fails or is damaged by disease or injury. In an organ transplant, doctors remove an organ from another person and place it in your body. Doctors must specifically match donors to recipients to reduce the risk of transplant rejection, which can happen if your […]
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ESM Law Expands with Acquisition
Ericson, Scalise and Mangan, P.C., in New Britain, is pleased to announce its expansion with the acquisition of the Avon law practice of Attorney Michael J. Donoghue. Established in 1945, Ericson, Scalise and Mangan, P.C., (ESM) provides a range of legal services for Connecticut individuals, families, and business owners with a focus on Estate Planning, […]
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How to be an Executor
If you are named the executor or personal representative in a Last Will and Testament, you will be the final administrator of a deceased person’s estate and have many details to manage. The following estate executor checklist can help you more easily navigate the process while making sure none of your duties slip through the […]
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The Ins and Outs of Title Insurance
There are a number of different steps you will have to go through to finalize the purchase of your new home. Purchasing title insurance is one of the unfamiliar steps but is vitally important. Title insurance is there to protect you and your lender from sticky legal situations that involve claims to ownership of the […]
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Big Myths of Financial Planning
Every day, you make choices about your finances that affect your long-term happiness. But if you are like most people, you never had any formal education in money management. You’ve had to seek out advice and resources as you go. And unless you’ve been very lucky, you’ve found it contradictory or downright nonsensical. Let’s debunk […]
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No-Contest Clauses and How They Work
Contesting a Will is not just the stuff of TV melodramas — it happens in real life. After you are gone, if a family member believes you didn’t have the requisite mental capacity to execute your Will, that someone exerted undue influence over you, that someone committed fraud, or that the Will wasn’t executed properly, that person […]
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Are You Ready for Your Retirement?
As you head toward your post-work years, you may wonder at what point you will be ready for retirement. One important factor to consider is Social Security. The longer you wait to start collecting after you become eligible at 62, the higher the amount you’ll receive. Your Social Security benefits will increase with every year […]
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