#Trust

The Wine Collector’s Estate: Planning for a Wine Cellar

Randall Fisher

Dec 14, 2012
4 min

The Wine Collector’s Estate: Planning for a Wine Cellar

A good estate plan is tailored to fit your needs; a better estate plan also accommodates your passions. Whether those passions are for wine, art or even stamps, you should think beyond mere insurance, which protects you when the collection is gone but does little protect the collection when you are gone. Today’s post focuses on the nuances of estate planning for one of the more popular collections: wine. Just as the estate plans of gun collectors and pet lovers make special

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Randall Fisher

Nov 27, 2012
3 min

What Happens to My Pets When I Die?

Many pet-owners don’t actually think of their animals primarily as “pets.” Instead, another word springs to mind: family. Estate plans should take care both of the client and the client’s family members, whether they are cat, dog, horse or human. The trouble is that when creating an estate plan, attorneys often forget that an estate plan can provide for long-term pet care through what is known as a pet trust. Why do we forget? Some attorneys just don’t have pets so they don’t

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Where does Michael Phelps go from here? To a decent estate planning attorney, that’s where.

Randall Fisher

Aug 3, 2012
3 min

Where does Michael Phelps go from here? To a decent estate planning attorney, that’s where.

Congratulations, Mr. Phelps! Well, now that you’re all set to retire as the most accomplished athlete in Olympic history, what are you going to do next? Nevermind, the cat would disown me. No, Mr. Phelps. No. Don’t tell me you’re going to Disneyland. Everybody goes to Disneyland. Okay. Okay fine, go but bring me back Mickey Mouse ears. But when you return, you should probably start thinking about your future. I’m just a humble attorney, Mr. Phelps. No, no I haven’t e

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On the Pet Trust and Life under the <del>Thumb</del> Rule of a Despotic Kitty

Randall Fisher

Jul 24, 2012
3 min

On the Pet Trust and Life under the <del>Thumb</del> Rule of a Despotic Kitty

My cat is a tyrant. She reigns over a dominion that includes an entire floor of the house, a collection of German toys of unfathomable complexity in both engineering and name, and an entire family of cowering subjects to do her dastardly feline bidding. She even has a throne – a cat-shaped indent in the center cushion of the couch – from which she surveys her empire, upon which neither sun nor vacuum ever (successfully) manages to set. The Resistance. Her name is Amelia and i

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Randall Fisher

Jun 29, 2012
2 min

Why You Need an Estate Plan: Making the Will and Revocable Living Trust Work for You

Today we conclude our discussion of the universal importance of estate planning whether you think yourself a prince or a pauper. In postings past we have reacquainted you with an old friend, the will, and introduced a new one, the revocable living trust. Now we’ll offer a caution of what else you need to do to ensure that these friends are able to fully carry out your wishes. Wills and Living Trusts Are Not Cure-Alls The benefits of a will or a revocable living trust are obvi

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Why You Need an Estate Plan: The Revocable Living Trust

Randall Fisher

Jun 26, 2012
2 min

Why You Need an Estate Plan: The Revocable Living Trust

Pictured: Probate. Last week, we began a simple explanation of why it’s so important for you to establish an estate plan even if the total value of your assets is small enough to pass untaxed by the federal ($5 million exemption) and the state (Maryland: $1 million exemption) governments. We discussed the most commonly employed means of protecting your estate: the will. Today, we will introduce you to a second that you should really give some thought regardless of whether you

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Randall Fisher

Jun 22, 2012
3 min

A Prince’s Inheritance & Why You Need an Estate Plan, Part I: The Will

For his 30th birthday on Thursday, Prince William received a bittersweet present: roughly $15 million inherited from the estate of his mother, the late Princess Diana. Now, if you are reading this humble blog, I sincerely doubt you are royalty yourself (if you are, take note: I have always liked the sound of Sir Dr. Randall D. Fisher, Esq., but unfortunately my dear wife feels that would be far too many titles). If there is any misconception that I hope to dispel in my caree

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Randall Fisher

Nov 12, 2009
6 min

Don’t make the same mistakes you’ve seen in the headlines

Now is the time to update your existing estate plan, or proceed with implementing a comprehensive estate plan. Why? First, we now know with certainty that the federal estate tax is not going away, and thus we should establish a plan that avoids or at least minimize this voluntary tax. More importantly, if you don’t you just might end up like the host of celebrities who have made the headlines recently because they either had no estate planning or because the planning they did

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Randall Fisher

Sep 30, 2009
6 min

When is it time to revisit your estate plan?

If you own a car, then you know it requires regular servicing in order to perform well and be reliable. More than likely, your car came with a recommended schedule for service, based on how many miles it has been driven. After a certain number of miles, you need to change the oil, replace the brake pads, rotate the tires, and so on. If you have a newer car, you probably have an irritating dash light that comes on when it’s time for service and stays on until the mechanic rese

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