The Complete Lawyer

Retirement Readiness and the possibilities of re-inventing ourselves can be enhanced by a certain amount of practical prior planning. The medical care “industry” consumes almost 20% of GDP and Americans will spend a projected $2 trillion on health care in 2008—an expenditure that has been increasing at a substantially higher rate than core inflation. Since we Baby Boomers are going to consume health care services at an unprecedented rate over the next 40 years, we need to reconcile health care needs ...

As a sole practitioner, and a 64-year-old one at that, I am often asked, “What happens to our estate plan and file if you’re no longer around?” I am proud to tell them that I have a documented succession plan in the event of my death or incapacity. (What I haven’t yet told them is that having a succession plan also makes it easier for me to sell my practice should I choose to do so.) I have shared my ...

Estate planning for women requires a certain sensitivity. Women typically fail to take active roles in planning their estates and need to be educated about its importance. Estate planning workshops generally present women as “surviving spouses.” Conversely, planners are told, “The wife makes the decisions.” Techniques focus on the nuclear long-term marriage with children, but in reality that model is waning. Consequently, women are more likely to become key clients and require sensitivity to their situational needs. While unique, a woman ...

Many business owners devote much time and energy “working in” their business to improve operations and profitability; however, they often neglect to “work on” their business by not addressing certain asset protection issues. Business owners, particularly those owning their business in corporate form, should consider the following: 1) how to own C corporation or S corporation stock to minimize exposure to creditors, an “outside” asset protection issue; and, 2) whether to implement several basic business agreements designed to protect and ...

Before becoming a professor, I spent 13 years as a practitioner, mostly representing criminal defendants with mental disabilities and persons subjected to involuntary civil commitment or committed to psychiatric hospitals. I have taught mental disability law for 24 years, and in the past 17 of those years, my research and scholarship have focused mostly on the ways that prejudice towards persons with mental disabilities leads to stigma and stereotyping, and the ways that these factors malignantly distort both the legislative ...

One of my very first law students was a New York policewoman I’ll call Amy who left the police force on a disability pension. Amy was from a small, blue collar town in upstate New York whose population was declining ever since the area’s largest employer had relocated. It hardly seemed like the ideal place to open a law practice. But because she was committed to caring for an elderly aunt and because she owned property there, she returned to ...

It’s funny the difference a few months can make. My last article—Ensuring Sufficient Retirement Income —discussed organizing retirement assets to maximize retirement income and lessen the fear of outliving our money. We certainly didn’t anticipate that the entire economy might teeter on the precipice by the end of September. Congress finally passed the $700 billion bail-out (oops – recovery) package for Wall Street; still, we won’t know for months or even years whether the plan will work, or how much ...

Among all professionals, lawyers may have the most contentious relationship with sleep. If it’s true that “Lawyers know life practically,” as Samuel Johnson said, then perhaps sleep seems to be too impractical for the competitive culture of the law office. Why sleep when there is so much work to be done? The law profession’s reliance on the billable hour also makes sleep an outcast. If time is money, it can’t be wasted sleeping. Yet sleep is much too important to be ...

I recently met with some attorneys to help them review retirement sufficiency calculations. While the men were typically overconfident about their retirement preparations, the women showed more unease. My concern set in when two of the three female attorneys pointed to their current or soon-to-be husbands as their source for retirement security. The other attorney asked to exclude her husband’s assets to “see if she could go it alone” in retirement. Based on the worry I saw in her face, I ...

As an elder law attorney I guide clients through the maze of the senior chronic care system to help marshal all possible resources to provide the best care possible and at the same time preserve some of their life savings. In addition, many elder law attorneys provide planning advice for persons of all ages with disabilities. What will the elder law practice look like in 2020? I believe it will be very different because our health care system will be very ...

Ask an attorney about his retirement plan, and most likely you’ll hear a cliché—“I love this so much I plan to work until I can’t work anymore” or, “I plan to die at my desk.” Behind the confident smile you’ll most likely notice a thin patina of perspiration, not a small amount of anxiety, and a lot of insecurity. Planning For Retirement Couldn?t Be More Urgent Recently I had several interesting conversations with different attorneys regarding financial security … or the lack ...

In the last issue we discussed in depth the many nuances of disability insurance. In this installment we will discuss two additional areas of risk management: Life and personal liability insurance. • Life Insurance—Insurance designed for the purpose of providing for beneficiaries in the event of the insured’s death. Insurance proceeds provide income for dependents, payment of estate taxes (in the event of a taxable estate), wealth replacement, or charitable purposes. • Liability Insurance—Personal liability insurance provides for the payment of claims from others ...

When people hear someone mention disability, liability, or life insurance their eyes often glaze over. “Enough about Insurance!” is usually the exasperated exclamation. As professionals and individuals we each assume significant financial risks. Whether or not we recognize or are aware of them, they are significant. If we choose not to defer the risk, the effect can be “catastrophic” to us individually and to our families. The proper use of risk analysis and implementation of a Risk Management Plan is crucial ...