Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law Attorneys

» Rubin loses Citi exec committee post

» Boomsday and the Estate Tax

I first became a Christopher Buckley fan in 1995, when I read Thank You For Smoking. Mr. Buckley is a satirist of the first order, and usually turns his eye to Washington politics (his father is William F. Buckley). I recently picked up a copy of Mr. Buckley's most recent novel, Boomsday, which focuses on the coming entitlement crisis. The main character, Cassandra Devine, is a blogger(!) who suggests legislation encouraging Baby Boomers (also referred to here as "The Ungreatest Generation") to take part in "voluntary transitioning" (i.e. suicide). What's in it for the Boomers?

[Ms. Devine's mentor, Terry Tucker:] "You offer people tax breaks. To kill themselves. At age seventy."

[Ms. Devine:]"More if they Transition at sixty-five. Yes, a package of incentives. Free medical. Drugs -- all the drugs you want. Boomers love that kind of pork. The big one is no estate tax. Why leave it to Uncle Sam when you can leave it to the kids? That'll get the kids on board. Terry, listen to me. I ran the numbers. By my calculations, if only twenty percent of seventy-seven million Baby Boomers go for it, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid will be solvent. End of crisis. Tell me that's not worth debating."

»  Budget So You Never Go Broke
Your job pays peanuts and living costs are through the roof, but a good budget can help you get a handle.

» Who opens the probate estate? Getting organized

I recently wrote a post about saving time and money in probate (it's here). The real message behind all of my ideas is "get organized." And yet I have encountered a number of situations lately where there's sheer disorganization, to the point where multiple members of the same family are attempting to open a probate estate for the same person. Even worse, most of these estates are fairly small, so there's little money to spend. And yet, if you have multiple probates (or attempted probates), you have to bring in the attorneys for each court call, and then work out which person or persons will be handling the estate. It's ALWAYS better to work out these details before things get into court.

» Death, and taxes

The West is supposed to be a key battleground in this year's election, but the presidential candidates have managed to avoid addressing Western issues.