On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. In addition to health care exchanges and a personal mandate to have health insurance, one of the most visible features of Obamacare is the 3.8% surtax on net investment income for wealthier taxpayers. This health care legislation […]

Whether your estate planning practice is a small, medium or large law firm, there’s one distinctive characteristic that can be found in every successful firm: teamwork. Of course, that teamwork is created with great hiring, training, follow-up direction, motivation and leadership. It’s the law firm owner or department manager’s job to build a group of […]

I’m not a chef or someone who really enjoys cooking. I’m lucky my husband enjoys preparing our meals and does so the majority of the time. That being said, we both work full-time, commute to and from the office, and have a young son. We were looking for ways to streamline our evenings when a […]

This is another in a series of blogs on the basics of estate planning. Last week, we looked at Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts. This week, we’ll look at charitable trusts. There are two primary types of charitable trusts, they are Charitable Remainder Trusts (“CRTs”) and Charitable Lead Trusts (“CLTs”). Trusts with split interests (in which […]

Patient, A Surgeon’s Journey, a moving 72-minute documentary, is a thought- and conversation-provoking film that can help families wrap their hearts and minds around mortality issues. During 2017, we’ve seen news reports of coffin building clubs in New Zealand and of family and friends building a casket for a contractor who died unexpectedly.  But Dr. […]

As a leader, do you insist on loyalty or cultivate trust in your organization? A common mistake many leaders make is expecting loyalty without creating a level of trust first. Here at the Academy, they encourage and trust us to be creative, to be innovative and to bring our true talents to work each and […]

This is another in a series of blogs on the basics of estate planning. Last week, we looked at the importance of client control. This week, we’ll look at Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts. Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (sometimes referred to as “ILITs”) are a commonly used strategy designed to keep life insurance out of the […]

Improving care at the end of life is one of the principal health care challenges of in our time. Our health care system often does not support patients and their families properly or sufficiently as they face serious illness or death. And patients’ care preferences are often not being met. “Five Big Ideas to Improve […]

Quick! What’s your vision? For your life, your family, your business – what is it?There’s a lot of hype swirling around us to discover our vision. Who we want to be, what we want to stand for, what we want to make and leave for the world, and the impression we want to leave behind. […]

This is another in a series of blogs on the basics of estate planning. Last week, we looked at community and separate property. This week, we’ll look at client control and why it is critical to estate planning designed to meet the goals of the clients. When a client meets with an attorney, often they […]