Hunt & Associates P.C.

Aug 17, 2015

Should You Be Planning for Long Term Care?

“…I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

-Dwight Eisenhower

For most of us life rarely works out according to a plan. As an old proverb states, “man plans, God laughs”. We still make plans for future events which matter to us because experience teaches us that it makes sense to do so and because we anticipate, or at least hope, that planning will lengthen the odds of a successful or … Read more

Jul 16, 2015

Almost ABLE: An Update on Savings Accounts for People with Disabilities

This past January, we told you here about recently enacted federal legislation, the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 (the “ABLE Act”), which allows persons with disabilities to establish tax favored savings accounts which can be used to pay for expenses related to their disabilities.

Persons who became severely disabled prior to their 26th birthday may establish an ABLE account, to which anyone can make a contribution. The total annual amount … Read more

Jun 16, 2015

What Yogi Berra Can Teach Small Business Owners about Estate Planning

According to baseball legend Yogi Berra, “If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” Yogi’s one liners often make me laugh, but they also make me think. His quip reminds me of the importance of having a plan when engaging in any endeavor that will impact our personal situations beyond the immediate here and now. That includes the process of estate planning. Now, I will grant you that … Read more

May 19, 2015

Oregon High Court to Rule on DHS’ Rule Expanding Medicaid Recovery Efforts

A case with significance for Oregon Medicaid recipients and their families is headed to the Oregon Supreme Court. The dispute centers on administrative rules issued by the State of Oregon’s Department of Human Services (DHS) in 2008. The rules enlarged the State’s ability to seek reimbursement on account of benefits paid to Medicaid recipients. Ultimately, the rules were challenged in court; this past November, the court of appeals ruled against DHS and the rules were … Read more

Mar 19, 2014

The Oregon Probate Process: Getting Started

In my estate planning practice and in my estate administration practice I am asked the same questions: “What is probate?” and, “Why does it have to take so long?”

Usually when people tell me they want to avoid probate, they mean that they want to avoid having their estate administered through a court process, whether or not the person has a will.  The exact definition of probate is not that important.  Essentially, the administration of … Read more

Feb 20, 2014

Selecting a Beneficiary: Who, What, When

Now that you have decided which estate planning instrument (a will or a trust) you will be using and you have selected your trustee or personal representative, who do you want to leave your property to? What property do you want to leave to each beneficiary?  When should each beneficiary receive your property?  The answers to these questions may seem easy – leave everything to your children in equal shares and let them … Read more

Jan 17, 2014

Selecting a Trustee: Did I Make the Right Choice ?

When selecting an individual to serve as successor trustee of a trust, they often wonder if they are making the right choice.   Generally, the individual making the trust serves as trustee for so long as they are capable or alive.  Choosing who to serve as trustee in the event the individual becomes disabled or dies can be extremely difficult since the person that you select needs to be responsible and trustworthy.

For the most party … Read more

Jan 10, 2014

A New Year: A Great Time to Update Your Estate Planning

Around the end of each year I like to take an inventory of myself, what I did in the past year and what changed over that time. There have been new additions to my family; I have grown closer to some friends and more distant with others; we’ve moved to a new house; and in general things have changed considerably.  With all of the change, it’s a perfect time to update my estate plan to … Read more

Nov 8, 2013

Do I Need a Will or Trust?

In my previous post, Estate Planning – It’s Just as Much Life Planning as it is Death Planning, I focused on the importance of having estate planning that focuses on planning for your life (incapacity, inability to manage your own finances, or end of life planning).  For most people, life planning is ancillary to the real reason they come to my office – they need a will or trust.   The first question is always … Read more

Sep 27, 2013

Estate Planning – It’s Just as Much Life Planning as it is Death Planning

I had a potential client call me earlier in the week asking me if he needed a will.  The caller wasn’t married and had no children or grandchildren.  He didn’t own any real property.  All of his bank accounts had payable on death beneficiaries and he owned minimal personal property.  He had the perfect plan; nothing was going to pass through probate so he didn’t think he needed a will.

Maybe he doesn’t need a … Read more