Monterey Herald:  “It may be surprising, but not many people enjoy talking about death and dying. Fewer still relish the thought of planning for their death and the disposition of their worldly possessions.

We plan vacations. We plan bar mitzvahs. If we find out we need surgery, we make a plan.

Here is some news: No one gets out of here alive and, as we know, we can't take it — our possessions — with us.

If this is not news, then why is it that less than 30 percent of people do any estate planning? Worse yet, unlike vacations, bar mitzvahs and non-emergency surgery, most of us have no idea if death will call this week, next year or in 30 years.

At a minimum, all of us should have a will and a health care directive.”

Your Smart Money Moves:  “It’s interesting that as parents age, especially when they get 70, they start thinking about their own mortality. It’s hard to know what to tell your kids. I’m a parent today. As parents they have kids that get older, they start to think about which of their kids they think are responsible and which aren’t especially when it comes to money. Many parents are nervous to tell their kids about how much money they have or what’s happening with the family finances because they either don’t want to bother their kids or they’re worried that their kids may change their lives based on how much they know their future inheritance will be. However, there are a lot of parents that don’t spend enough time talking to their kids about estate planning or overall long-term planning with their kids at all. If you wanted to cue your parents in on what they should tell you, here are four things that I think are a must.”

Estate of Denial:  “Wealth transfer, a perennially touchy issue for some families, offers an opportunity for advisors to step in and bridge generational gaps, according to a new study by Campden Wealth and Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management on attitudes surrounding wealth transfers.

Younger members of ultra-wealthy households are grappling with their forebears for a say in wealth planning, and women are concerned about how money affects their relationships, the study found, after surveying 53 families with a net worth of $100 million or more earlier this year. “

Forbes:  “Currently, under the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), a military retiree can set aside up to 55 percent of his monthly retirement pay to provide their family members with a monthly stipend, after he or she dies. However, these benefits are counted as income and can prohibit a dependent child with disabilities from receiving Medicaid and Social Security Disability Insurance assistance.

According to Militaryfamily.org, the “Disabled Military Child Protection Act of 2012” (H.R. 4329) was introduced by Congressman Jim Moran in order to provide long-term care for severely disabled children of service members.”

The Street:  “The most common refrain I hear when assisting clients with estate planning is that they want to treat their children equally. It's a parent's instinctual, default position. However, it can be a flawed position to lead from. In some cases, you might need to treat your children differently when it comes to gifting and estate planning.  Notice I said differently but not unequally.

So what are some examples of treating your adult children differently:

• Not naming all of your children as successor executors

•Gifting the annual gift exclusion of $13,000 outright to some children while putting it in trust for another child

•Leaving one child's inheritance outright while leaving another child's inheritance in trust.”

The Columbus Dispatch:  “My brother Ross recently died of complications from lung cancer. He was 40.

Ross left a wonderful personal legacy. He was a good father, friend and coach. He was a dedicated educator who devoted his career to working with children with emotional, developmental and physical disabilities.

But like many Americans, my brother failed to take care of his financial affairs even after receiving word that his cancer had progressed and he might not have long to live. He just wouldn’t or couldn’t follow through on advice to prepare a will. Tragically, he was a single parent who left no written instructions regarding guardianship for his 3-year-old son.

Death is hard enough to deal with, but toss in a family with unresolved issues, along with no instructions from the deceased, and you have discord at the time you most need order.

Please, I’m begging you to get your financial affairs in order, especially if you have children or you are responsible for taking care of someone.”

Record Online:  “The world is a different place today than it was in 1950. Back then, the majority of families were similar in makeup: father, mother, kids, dog, house and car — the Ozzie and Harriet paradigm. Elder law estate planning in those situations often followed very predictable patterns. The surviving spouse received the assets after the first death, and the children split the remaining assets when the second parent moved on.

Family situations have changed, and “blended families,” those with children from a previous marriage, are on the rise. Plus, the law has changed, with different tax situations, legal tools, long-term care concerns and other realities forcing elder law estate plans to take more into account.”