Augulis Law Firm

Legacy Planning: A More Complete Form of Estate Planning: Estate planning is a crucial step in securing your family’s future, but legacy planning takes it a step further. This is a comprehensive approach that goes beyond merely distributing assets. It focuses on passing down values, beliefs, and a lasting impact. Here’s how legacy planning offers a more complete form of estate planning. Understanding Legacy Planning Legacy planning involves creating a strategy to pass on your wealth, values, and traditions. It ensures that your legacy lives on through the generations. While estate planning primarily focuses on financial assets, legacy planning includes personal, emotional, and ethical considerations. Financial Assets Just like [Read more...] The post Legacy Planning: A More Complete Form of Estate Planning appeared first on Augulis Law Firm. #estateplanning #augulislawfirm #njattorney

Make Small Business Succession Planning Part of Your Estate Plan: Small business owners pour their hearts and souls into their ventures, often spending years building them from the ground up. However, many neglect a crucial aspect of long-term planning: succession planning. Incorporating small business succession planning into your estate plan ensures the continuity and success of your business after you’re no longer at the helm. Here, we’ll explore the importance of succession planning and how to effectively integrate it into your estate plan. Understanding Business Succession Planning Business succession planning is the process of determining how your business will continue to operate in your absence. This could be due to [Read more...] The post Make Small Business Succession Planning Part of Your Estate Plan appeared first on Augulis Law Firm. #estateplanning #augulislawfirm #njattorney

6 Things You Should Know About Senior Medicaid Planning: When you start to get older, the discussions that you have with your extended family members and peers will take on a different complexion. You start to talk about the eventualities of aging, and at some point, you will hear about an inconvenient reality. Medicare does not pay for a stay in a nursing home, and over one-third of senior citizens will require this level of care. More than half of people that reach an advanced age will need some type of paid living assistance, so this is relevant to everyone. Medicaid is the widely embraced solution because it does [Read more...] The post 6 Things You Should Know About Senior Medicaid Planning appeared first on Augulis Law Firm. #estateplanning #augulislawfirm #njattorney

A QTIP Trust Can Provide a Remarriage Solution: Estate planning is important for everyone, but it becomes even more essential for parents who are getting remarried. Ensuring that your assets are distributed according to your wishes and providing for your new spouse and children from a previous marriage requires careful consideration. One effective tool in this scenario is the qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust. This blog will explore the importance of estate planning for remarried parents and how a QTIP trust can help. The Challenges of Remarriage in Estate Planning When parents remarry, they face unique estate planning challenges. Balancing the needs and interests of a new [Read more...] The post A QTIP Trust Can Provide a Remarriage Solution appeared first on Augulis Law Firm. #estateplanning #augulislawfirm #njattorney

Your Comprehensive NJ Estate Planning Checklist: Estate planning is essential for ensuring that your assets are managed and distributed according to your wishes after your death. A well-thought-out estate plan can provide peace of mind, reduce potential conflicts among heirs, and minimize taxes and legal fees. This comprehensive NJ estate planning checklist will guide you through the steps needed to create a thorough and effective estate plan. Assess Your Current Situation Start by making a detailed list of all your assets. Include real estate, bank accounts, investment accounts, retirement accounts, personal property (like jewelry and art), and business interests. Don’t forget digital assets, such as online [Read more...] The post Your Comprehensive NJ Estate Planning Checklist appeared first on Augulis Law Firm. #estateplanning #augulislawfirm #njattorney

Is DIY Estate Planning Worth the Risk?: It’s tempting to handle everything online simply because you can. From shopping to banking, the internet offers convenience at our fingertips, and estate planning is no exception. Many websites offer DIY estate planning downloads, promising quick and easy solutions for your legal needs. However, these downloads are no substitute for the expertise of an estate planning lawyer. Here’s why. Understanding Estate Planning Estate planning is more than just drafting a will. It involves organizing your assets and making decisions about your legacy. This process includes wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives. Each document serves a unique purpose and [Read more...] The post Is DIY Estate Planning Worth the Risk? appeared first on Augulis Law Firm. #estateplanning #augulislawfirm #njattorney

What Is a Life Estate?: You can facilitate postmortem asset transfers in many different ways, so you should make your choices wisely. We endeavor to provide explanations of the possibilities here, and today, we will look at the estate planning device called a life estate. Property Transfers A life estate can be used to transfer your place of residence or any other type of real property that you own. To explain through the use of an example, let’s say that you want to leave your home to your son after you pass away. You want the transfer to be as quick and seamless as possible. [Read more...] The post What Is a Life Estate? appeared first on Augulis Law Firm. #estateplanning #augulislawfirm #njattorney

Estate Taxes in New Jersey: A Comprehensive Overview: The federal estate tax can have a significant impact on your legacy because it carries a 40 percent top rate. Fortunately, you can transfer a certain amount tax-free before the estate tax becomes applicable. This figure is called the estate tax exclusion. It is increased every year to account for inflation, and it is at a record high at the moment in 2024. However, changes are brewing, and we look at the matter of New Jersey estate taxes from an overview in this post. The Road to the Historically High Level When you examine recent history, you can see that [Read more...] The post Estate Taxes in New Jersey: A Comprehensive Overview appeared first on Augulis Law Firm. #estateplanning #augulislawfirm #njattorney

Do You Have a Nursing Home Asset Protection Plan?: Elder law attorneys provide legal assistance to people who are concerned about the financial challenges that they may face as senior citizens. Without question, long-term care costs are at the top of this list, so you should start to think about a nursing home asset protection plan. Medicare Won’t Help The United States Department of Health and Human Services tells us that 35 percent of senior citizens will reside in nursing homes at some point in time. We are all aware of the fact that Medicare is the source of health insurance for the vast majority of senior citizens in [Read more...] The post Do You Have a Nursing Home Asset Protection Plan? appeared first on Augulis Law Firm. #estateplanning #augulislawfirm #njattorney

Elder Law Answers About IRAs and Retirement Planning: As estate planning and elder law attorneys, we focus on matters that are of interest to seniors. With this in mind, in this post, we will answer some common questions about individual retirement accounts and retirement planning. When can you start to receive Social Security? There are three different options. You can choose to accept an early benefit when you are as young as 62, but it would be reduced by somewhere between 25 percent and 30 percent depending on your birth year. The reduced benefit is an obvious disincentive, but there is another one that may be even more [Read more...] The post Elder Law Answers About IRAs and Retirement Planning appeared first on Augulis Law Firm. #estateplanning #augulislawfirm #njattorney