Financial Advisor:  “If your client is the executor of a family estate, you can warn him or her it will take an average of 800 hours—that’s 20 full workweeks—to settle most estates. That is, if it doesn’t get bogged down in a battle over an amethyst ring or Green Bay Packers tickets, said EstateExec, a company based in the San Francisco area that creates software for estate executors. It takes an average of 16 months to settle an estate, no matter the size, according to an EstateExec survey of 1,200 people involved in estate settlements. For 80 percent of estates, it takes 800 hours of work by the executor to settle, the survey said, and nearly half, 44 percent, of those surveyed were part of, or were at least aware of, family conflicts that erupted in the settlement process.”

New Jersey Law Journal:  “Cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, has value and therefore is increasingly likely to become an estate asset. Due to the nature of cryptocurrency, typical wills and revocable living trusts may not be well suited to efficiently transfer this new type of asset. Consequently, new estate planning questions and clauses are needed.”

Brooklyn Trust and WIll:  “While many people associate the process of estate planning with retirement and owning significant value in assets, the fact of the matter is that quite the contrary is actually true. Estate planning by definition is the process of preparing for the transfer of wealth after death, so if you own anything of value, estate planning becomes necessary if you wish to pass on your assets to any beneficiaries. Further, estate planning becomes particularly necessary if you own a business, as the law may not always coincide with your intentions regarding passing on ownership of the business after your passing.”

Bloomberg:  Money might not buy love, but it can buy better health. And, to live as long as possible, the world’s wealthy are willing to pay up. Over the past few decades, the average person’s lifespan has risen almost everywhere in the world. In China, the U.S. and most of Eastern Europe, the average life expectancy at birth has reached the late 70s, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD. People in Western Europe and Japan, meanwhile, can expect to live into their early 80s. Most rich people, however, are counting on living even longer—a lot longer, as in two decades more than average. In a new UBS Financial Services survey, 53 percent of wealthy investors said they expected to live to 100.

Market Watch:  Two chores that most people gladly put off: The first is writing a will—and the second is updating it to reflect changed circumstances. Either way, it’s crucial to name the right executors.Regarding the first chore, my client roster includes recalcitrant individuals who’ve yet to write their wills. I regularly remind them how badly things could turn out if they fail to do so. For instance, their assets might wind up with individuals whom they never intended to benefit or they consider less deserving of their largess than others.

Financial Advisor Magazine:  “Almost all clients begin thinking at some point about how they are going to be remembered when they’re gone. Many think specifically about the legacy they will be leaving. But legacy is an odd thing. I would argue that the concept is somewhat selfish. We wish to direct it, but we actually have little control over it. Various people in our lives often get to determine how we will be remembered, basing it somewhat on their interactions with us but mostly on their own views of the world.”

Fox News:  “A Colorado woman’s house was ransacked last week after throngs of people were reportedly led to believe it was the site of an estate sale. Mary Andrews told the Daily Camera she left her Longmont home unlocked Friday and, when she returned, she found people walking out with things from inside.“

JDSUPRA:  “Perhaps encouraged by the recent decision in Marasse Estate, we have another recent case from the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench addressing an estate’s ability to claim spousal support and its liability to pay spousal support.  Stalzer v Stalzer, 2018 ABQB 191 is reassurance to estate planning and family law practitioners that a person’s obligation to pay spousal support to their deceased ex-spouse’s estate is not a general rule of law and was specific to the drafting of the various agreements in play in Marasse.”

The New York Times:  “For parents, deciding how to divvy up their assets can be an incredibly onerous task. This is especially true for those with substantial wealth and multiple children or beneficiaries to consider. A common mistake parents make when undertaking estate planning is focusing too much on legal issues while ignoring family dynamics.”

JDSUPRA:  “With all the changes in the new tax laws, some people may be hesitant to move forward with an estate plan. It is important, however, to keep in mind that most clients will not be subject to the federal estate tax and therefore the changes to the federal estate tax laws do not impact planning.“

The New York Times:  “Pre-need funeral planning allows individuals to take care of details concerning their funeral and body disposition as a means to prevent the burden from falling on family. Pre-need planning enables you to decide whether you want to be cremated or buried, the type of funeral service you want, and even what attire you want when buried.“