Elder Law, Estate Planning, and Estate Settlement Free Resources

Estate planning has many factors – each with numerous aspects, details, and choices. Once in place, an estate plan should be reviewed periodically to make certain it stays rock-solid in spite of new laws, tax codes, and you and your beneficiary’s evolving life situations.

Please accept these complimentary materials aimed to keep you informed and up-to-date with all your estate planning questions.

To start you off, here’s a zany, amusing, informative Dr. Seuss-style rhyme about advance directives. If you like that, check out Tim Boon’s full interview here.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Estate Planning Newsletters
Audio recordings
Workshops and Seminars
Building Your Lifeplan
The Dartmouth Memory Book
Blogs
Useful Links

Interesting Articles:
Digital Estates
New Look at End of Life Care
Why Doctors Die Differently


ESTATE PLANNING NEWSLETTERS

Caldwell Law publishes a free online newsletter: Estate and Elder Law Group eNews, The Wealth Advisor, and The Wealth Counselor. Each is full of articles on a variety of issues such as elder law, estate planning, Medicaid planning, guardianship, probate, will and trusts, and more.

To sign up for one, or all of our newsletters, and receive free links to other recordings, use the sign-up block at the left of your screen (Click here to see our back issues).

Privacy Policy: We will never share your name or e-mail address with anyone without your specific approval. Your name and address will be treated privately. We guarantee it.


ELDER LAW, ESTATE PLANNING, AND ESTATE SETTLEMENT AUDIO RECORDINGS

The Aging Smart Radio Network, sponsored by ElderLawAnswers, records an interview each week with a nationally recognized expert. Harry S. Margolis, the founder and president of ElderLaw Answers, conducts these interviews.

As an elder law attorney, Tim Caldwell has made these recordings available through this website with your newsletter subscription.

Topics include:

  • Family disputes involving elders
  • Staying younger longer
  • Retirement
  • Prescriptions and drug interactions
  • Social Security
  • Medicare
  • Widow/widowerhood
  • Avoiding exploitation
  • Staying mentally focused
  • Dementia
  • Financial planning

… and many more elder law estate planning subjects. You’ll have instant access to each of these recordings with your subscription to our newsletter.


WORKSHOPS

Caldwell Law hosts two or more introductory workshops each month. Everyone is invited. All events are located at Caldwell Law’s office.

Interested in attending a workshop? Click here.

Caldwell Law encourages you to take advantage of the many ways you can learn about wills and trusts, asset protection, living trusts, special needs trusts, probate funds from death, how to avoid probate, and elder care law.


WHITE PAPERS

Caldwell Law has prepared 3 comprehensive written reports that can be viewed here:

Estate planning — everyone needs it, regardless of financial wealth — and yet, not many want to think about it and even fewer make decisions and create plans. This summary describes aspects and the process of estate planning. It is not exhaustive; it is meant to raise questions that lead to conversations. We hope these conversations help you focus on what matters most to you. As you review your planning, reflect on the goals you have set for yourself, your family, and your community. This summary includes descriptions of some of the most common planning tools and basic administrative requirements and a discussion of the implications of the most current tax legislation.

Studies show that two out of every five people reaching age 65 need some type of long-term care. In New Hampshire and Vermont, the annual cost of nursing home care ranges from $195 to $330 per day. Some people pay over $200,000 per year for 24/7 home care. Most health insurance and Medicare does not cover the cost of long-term care. Recent federal legislation changed Medicaid eligibility rules to make it more difficult to qualify. New Hampshire is considering more cuts to reign in Medicaid spending. This report provides an understanding of the components involved in long-term care planning: Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and estate planning. It explains how recent changes in the law and future trends affect tomorrow’s long-term care consumer. Recent changes made under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, in New Hampshire and Vermont are discussed.

Caldwell Law has handled hundreds of estate settlement matters during its years of practice. In some cases, families were torn apart by fighting among the survivors, because they didn’t know how the decedent wanted his/her matters to be handled. In other situations, medical teams provided treatments to prolong life when the patients, if they’d been able to say so, would rather have just let go. Sometimes family wealth was diminished by administrative and legal costs that could have been minimized or avoided. Many of these difficult cases could have been easier to settle if a little more time had been devoted to planning during lifetime. Will your estate plan work for you? To help you answer this question, this paper addresses factors surrounding estate settlement, beginning with the subject of incapacity. Thereafter, we address post mortem considerations. Finally, we revisit both subjects, but from the perspective of the people (agents, trustees and executors) who surround (assist) the person who has become incapacitated or died.


BUILDING YOUR LIFEPLAN

In August 2016, Caldwell Law attorneys Tim Caldwell and Renee Harvey published their first book: Building Your Lifeplan.

Estate planning is about coming to terms with the fact that ultimately we all lose control—either because of incapacity or death—and then doing something about it before it is too late. Our firm’s motto, “Taking Good Care of Tomorrow,” captures the essence of estate planning: It is about you (your care, your hopes, your dreams, and your legacy);  It is about your beneficiaries (how can you best help them?); and it is about the process (“estate planning” not an “estate plan”) because your plans may change – laws, assets, circumstances, beneficiaries, and your goals change as well. This comprehensive legal guide to estate planning and settlement will walk you through what you need to know.

Building Your Lifeplan is available on Amazon.com, Kindle and at our office.


THE DARTMOUTH MEMORY HANDBOOK

November 2013 marks the publication of the 4th Edition of The Dartmouth Memory Handbook edited by Robert B. Santulli, M.D.  Dr. Santulli, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, has written articles and compiled a collection of articles written by various practitioners, including Tim Caldwell, about Alzheimer’s disease and planning for incapacity.  The Handbook is available in paper and digital format. We are pleased to announce the digital edition is now available for viewing on our website. Click here to view.

Coping with a loved one’s Alzheimer’s disease is a daunting task. Caregivers need substantial help from family, friends, and professionals, and must navigate a great deal of information from a variety of sources in order to successfully manage this long journey.

When people have ample information about the disease, and when they take full advantage of the resources available in their community, they are better able to care for their loved one – and can take better care of themselves in the process.  In addition, the person with a memory disorder fares much better, overall, when families and other caregivers have the tools they need to properly meet this frequently difficult challenge.

The Handbook will help families learn about Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders, and about the best ways to care for person one who suffers from the disorder.  The Handbook includes practical suggestions for caregivers, ranging from managing day-to-day activities to deciding when it’s time for a person to stop driving, to tips for reducing wandering behavior.  In sum, the Handbook provides a wealth of information including references to additional sources and resources. We hope you find it useful.


BLOGS

Caldwell Law is committed to providing our clients with resources to help them best understand their estate planning. Our blog posts are meant to encourage you to think critically about various aspects of estate planning and to strive to learn more.


USEFUL LINKS

Caldwell Law has identified a number of estate planning and estate settlement resources available to clients, families, and friends who may wish to learn more about advanced directives, facilities for the ill and aging, planned giving, wealth management, elder law and law practice in New Hampshire and Vermont. Take a moment to visit our Useful Links page and view our list of links to other websites you might find useful.


DIGITAL ESTATES

Managing your “digital estate,” was one of the topics discussed at our Annual Client Meeting last May. One of the challenges, as with other assets, is identifying the digital assets you own and giving your fiduciaries instructions with respect to these assets. For an estate planning tool referred to as a “Digital Audit,” please contact our office and we will send you information.

For a primer on some of the questions addressed in dealing with digital estates click here to listen to a recording broadcast on NHPR on April 3rd.


NEW LOOK AT END OF LIFE CARE

Having an up to date Advance Directive is a critical part of everyone’s estate plan. Reviewing your wishes with your health care agent, your medical team and your family is an important part of the planning process. For a thoughtful discussion about planning for end of life care, click on this link to hear Ira Byock, MD, of DHMC, one of our previous Annual Client Meeting speakers, interviewed by Jane Lindholm of Vermont Public Radio.



WHY DOCTORS DIE DIFFERENTLY

Careers in medicine have taught them the limits of treatment and the need to plan for the end. Click here for an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal.


Would you like to talk more about what Estate Planning means to you? Contact us to set up a complimentary introductory meeting with Caldwell Law.