LIVE WELL and BE REMEMBERED as the HERO you already are.

Do you have your own business?  It's great, isn't it?  Making all those decisions.  Having to buy the staples and copier.  And your delightful relationship with your silent partner, the IRS. Once all the euphoria of the above has passed, what's your succession plan?   How's the business going to pass along to other generations?  If you drop dead or are disabled, will your family have to clean up the mess?  If you are in a business with others, what's the succession look like? Most business succession plans include some sort of buy-out .  Normally, no one really thinks about this after the initial attorney drafts it.  How would you fund the buy-out?  Are you going to sell business assets?  Are you going to run a business with someone's widow, child, or girlfriend?  Or, is their life insurance on the business owners to fund it? Have I blogged on this before?  Yes .  Does it bear repeating? Yes . If you are in a small bu...

In Estate Planning for older individuals, a key is whether or not they have the necessary capacity to enter into the documents they are signing. In Tennessee, and I'm sure many other states, the person does not have to have perfect health and mental recollection for that.  Here's a recent case where the court reiterates the standard.  It states ...all that is necessary is “that the contracting party reasonably knew and understood the nature, extent, character, and effect of the transaction ." That's it.  It's not superhuman.  It's not even the standard of the "reasonably prudent man".  It simply whether or not they reasonably know and understood the transaction, at the time of the signing.   In this case, the issue is over a Power of Attorney, which led to a skilled facility admission, then a death, and then a lawsuit.  Isn't it amazing how a domino effect can wind up in litigation?  It was all from one apparently "simple" document. May...