by Sanford Okura | Dec 19, 2011 | Estate Planning
REVERSE MORTGAGE People often ask me for advice about reverse mortgages. They hear that with a reverse mortgage the bank pays you instead of your paying the bank, and that sounds good to them. Here is the advice I give them: if you want your children or other loved...
by Sanford Okura | Nov 18, 2011 | Estate Planning
PROBATE & TAXES vs. NURSING HOME COSTS Many senior citizens are worried about probate and death taxes. For most people, the fear of probate and estate taxes is misplaced. The greatest threat to our hard earned money is not probate or taxes, but nursing...
by Sanford Okura | Oct 31, 2011 | Estate Planning
NEW LAW: TRANSFER ON DEATH DEED Hawaii has a new law which allows real estate to go to a beneficiary when the owner dies, without having to go to court for probate. This new procedure requires a new kind of deed, called a “Transfer on Death Deed.” Governor...
by Sanford Okura | Jun 22, 2011 | Estate Planning
THE REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST TRAP Here is a Medicaid rule that often surprises those in nursing homes: if your home property is in a Revocable Living Trust, you cannot qualify for Medicaid for nursing home costs until you take your home out of the trust. However,...
by Sanford Okura | May 22, 2011 | Asset Protection, Estate Planning
ASSET PROTECTION FOR YOUR FAMILY Your will or trust probably says that you give your assets to your children when you die. (Whenever I mention “children,” I also mean nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, or anyone else who will be inheriting...
by Sanford Okura | Apr 29, 2011 | Estate Planning
2011 ESTATE PLANNING UPDATE By Sanford K. Okura Here is a 2011 update on important numbers used in Estate Planning and Medicaid Planning in Hawaii. How much money and property can a person have at death without paying estate taxes? Under a temporary federal...
