Music legend Jimi Hendrix was only 27 when he died. It’s always tragic when someone loses his life at such a young age; in Hendrix’s case, his death was also a financial tragedy for his close brother, Leon. Why? Jimi died without a will, and, under California state...
Estate Planning
Estate Planning for GenX is No Simple Matter
Estate planning is no longer about just death and death taxes, Seth Kaplan and Josh Goldglantz point out in Financial Advisor magazine. That’s particularly the case with Generation X (those born between the early 1960s and the early 1980s). Just some of the issues Gen...
IRAs Pose Special Estate Planning Challenges
When it comes to estate planning, you might say assets are assets, except when those assets are in an Individual Retirement Account. It’s not enough, for example, to simply divide your total assets equally among your three children – at least not if some of those...
That Isn’t to Say You Should Keep Everything
Yes, you can avoid many problems by securing your important documents, and telling your family where they are stored, concedes Saaabira Chaudhuri, writing in the Wall Street Journal. But that isn’t to say you should keep everything, she warns. “Sometimes people hold...
Leaving Lessons Along With Assets
Since estate planning is really about the next generation rather than about one’s own, it quite often occurs that our conversations with Geyer Law clients “branch off” into discussions about the best way to pass on wisdom about money management to younger family...
“Just Between Us” Intra-Family Loans
It is not uncommon for families to make loans to children or other family members in need of funds. “Wealthy families often run a ‘family bank’ with advances to various family members as they have liquidity needs,” explains americanbar.org. While it may be tempting...
Help! I’ve Just Become an Executor!
“Just as you’re beginning the painful and exhausting process of grieving for your parent’s death, you learn that you’ve basically become secretary of his or her death,” observes Lucy Mueller of gobankingrates.com.“Being the executor of a will involves a process that’s...
Joint Ownership Can’t Replace Estate Planning
In the process of buying an automobile, Denise thought it would be a good idea to title the car in her daughter Ann’s name along with her own. That way, Mom thought, if something happened to her, Ann could just take the car and use it without any legal “hassles”. ...
Elder Lawyers Help Clients Cope With the Loss of a Parent
For estate and elder law attorneys, grief and mourning go with the territory. We work to help our clients protect the people most important to them and the assets they’ve worked a lifetime to achieve. We offer compassionate counsel and care. We must accept the simple...

