Are you really as prepared as you hope you are? If your will is yellowing with age, if your power of attorney has your old address on it… then consider updating your documents.

Less Complicating. May 2017. By Timothy S. Barkley, Sr. First, the phone call: “Can you look over our wills and trusts? It’s been a few years, and we want somebody to make sure they’re up-to-date. And we’re going on vacation and want to make sure everything is covered in case something happens.” Certainly. Let’s get together. Next week? The meeting. “We had this done about twenty years ago by a lawyer in Rockville. I read your articles, and I...

A client visits the attorney and reflects on the experience of her mother in making her own end of life decisions.

A client visits the attorney and reflects on the experience of her mother in making her own end of life decisions.

By Tim Barkley. March 2013. Now that you’ve set up your living trust, you need to feed it to make it grow. In legal parlance, you need to “fund” your trust. The benefits of a living trust – probate avoidance, privacy, efficiency, estate tax avoidance – may be lost if you do not take the time to fund your trust and maintain it. “Funding” your trust means transferring title to your assets to your trust. Funding also includes making your...