Walsh & Company

A power of attorney authorizes one person to act for another person regarding specific legal matters. The person giving the authority for someone else to act on their behalf is called the principal, while the person now authorized to act for the principal is called...

Whether you are considering having a lawyer draft your will, or you’ve already done so and are trying to make sense of it, it is important to understand the four main things that a will accomplishes.  1. Asset Distribution: perhaps the most well-known function of...

A will covers all probate assets. Probate assets are those that are solely owned, and which do not have a designated beneficiary. For example, your prized fishing poles. Assuming you are the sole owner, those are probate assets, (i.e., they will have to go through the...

Imagine a jar.  Now imagine putting a toy car into the jar. Imagine putting monopoly money into it. And a toy house.  Essentially, that’s a trust. Obviously, the toys represent an actual car, house and money. A trust is an entity created by a settlor (person...

The principal residence often represents the largest asset in an estate. Although the sale of a residence after the owner’s death can generate a substantial cash gift for beneficiaries of the estate, in many cases the residence must still serve as the home by one or...

Most, if not all of us, are feeling the need to tighten our belts in the current economic climate. If we have recently bought a home or borrowed against our existing one, we may be "upside down" on our loan. Perhaps you simply are less wealthy as you see equity in...

One of the surprising challenges in planning for a spouse afflicted with dementia is the stark reality that should the unexpected occur and the healthy spouse predecease the disabled spouse, the disabled spouse will, in most instances, end up as the sole owner of all...

One of the prime motivating factors for estate planning is, of course, the love and concern we have for our heirs. We hope that by leaving an inheritance, our loved ones will, perhaps, have an easier time of it. Consider for a moment, however, families that have...

It is 10:30 P.M., do you know where your children are? Are they in bed, sleeping peacefully, while you worry about ongoing issues with caring for your aging parents? If this sounds familiar, you are a card-carryingmember of the "Sandwich Generation." In caring for (or...

We all come to the table with certain notions about the estate planning process. Much of the time, we get our information from researching on the internet, watching finance "experts" on cable television, word-of-mouth, and perhaps even our own wild guesses that we...